Daibakuhatsu Daigaku
by Strawberry Finch
Summary: Kagome Higurashi finds herself trying to balance out college studies, the egotistic junior Inuyasha who refuses to leave her alone, her sanity, and the plight of the world upon starting at Hakodate University. What's a college girl to do?M for violence
1. Chapter 1

A/N - New story. Let's see if this thing gets any readers...

Blanket Disclaimer - I do not own Inuyasha, or any other characters or things as such with the original story by Rumiko Takahashi. I just like play with the characters minds and lives.

* * *

_**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**_

_**Prologue**_

_**Hakodate University

* * *

**_

Thursday, August 13. 6:37 PM. 

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

Kagome Higurashi set down a cardboard box, filled to the top with random paraphernalia for her room. From what she knew, it seemed that she was going to have the small dormitory room all to herself for about a week until her roommate moved in, who apparently was not on the Ha. Crew. Also known as H.C., or Hakodate Crew. It was a large group of people who were selected each year to be a part of. Once a student in the college was a sophomore, they were allowed to choose if they wanted to be in it or not. But for freshman, such an option was not permitted.

The H.C. had a large array of different things that they were either assigned, asked, or flat out ordered to do. For instance, one of the things required was for all of the members to move onto campus a week before the designated date for students to begin piling in, so that they would know where everything was and would be able to help other students move in. Also in this week time period, most were also required to help the staff finish up projects around the school buildings that had not been completed. For instance, a group of young men might be asked to help some of the construction workers move in some of the last benches of the campus into place, while others were asked to work on creating a specified map for the new classmen coming in within seven days.

Kagome flopped down onto her bed, huffing an exasperated sigh. "Whoever thought that making an eight level dormitory with no elevators is a complete idiot..." She ignored the old and lumpy mattress's discomfort, since carrying up at least fifteen cardboard boxes about thirty pounds each up those stairs... with no help... and a television... she was bloody tired.

Quickly removing her old and torn windbreaker off of her body, Kagome sat up and leaned against the wall. Her feet quickly kicked off her stuffy shoes, letting her feet catch the cooling night air from the open window.

The room was not very large, and neither was her bed, for that matter. She remembered that the credentials for the rooms in each of the dorms had two twin beds, cabinets, and room to spare for desks, televisions, etc.

"What a load of crap," Kagome said to the room, scanning over it once more since her arrival.

The twin beds looked like if a person were to put two toddlers shoulder to shoulder on one of them then they would just barely fit. The other bed was directly above the first one, as a bunk bed to allow more room, if that was what one might name it. With the room left in there, what with the massive cabinets eating up half of the opposite wall, there was just barely room to place her television in between the bottom bed and the all too close mini refrigerator. At the foot of the beds there were two already placed desks, that looked like there had been iron attached not to long ago so that the staff could nail them to the ground, preventing burglary. There was just enough room for her to fit a laptop and a can of soda on the top, and the two gray and stained chairs were almost on top of each other.

Ah, to live in an overpopulated country.

At least free cable T.V. was included.

Kagome slipped off of her bed, deciding that if she spent any more time resting then she wouldn't get up until her stomach wanted her to. Not that time was too far off, but she still didn't want to feel like some blob.

Once plugging the T.V. in, she switched it on, and began flipping through channels until she found one that she could be able to set up to without getting distracted by.

Kagome stood back up from the T.V. (She had yet to figure out where the bloody hell she put the controller) and looked around the floor, staring at the mass of boxes. She cringed at the number of them. '_Did I really bring all of these up?..._' The thought of throwing some out the window occurred to her, but decided that it wouldn't be that good of investment of money.

Tying her hair up so not to get into her face, Kagome heaved open the first box, and began to un-pile its components.

* * *

6:43 PM

Dasunoshi Building, Men's Dormitory

Junior. He was _finally_ a junior. Just another year and he would be a senior. And then he'd be free of the damned university.

"Only another year after this..." Inuyasha said to himself, taking a deep breath of his cigarette before knocking some of the ashes off of the end. His legs dangled loosely over the edge of the building roof, getting covered in the tobacco burnings.

Inuyasha rested his head on the secondary railing where his arms were already. He hated the college, the city, the life, everything of Hakodate. The only thing he wasn't totally against was, of course, the women. What male college student wouldn't say that? That they hated everything here except the women.

"Well, let's see..." Talking to himself again. A common practice, he'd noticed. "The gay guys wouldn't say so, and neither would the computer wacks or the 'clean and straight' ass holes..."

Well, not really even that, since a whole lot of those guys were also perverted or something, only hid it well. "Whatever..."

The waning sun continued to fade beneath the horizon, shining its rays upon the hanyou warmly.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at the golden ball in front of him before sighing and stubbing out his cigarette on the hard concrete of the flat roof. He briskly stood, turning around and pacing over to the door.

At least there was one decent thing about being called in early to the University for the H. Crew; one's tuition went down quite a pretty penny. And it really wasn't that hard to figure out ways to get out of helping out, just a bit of a challenge for the execution.

'_Not to mention less chance of getting caught smoking..._'

He lightly jumped down the stairs before walking down the carpeted hallway to his room. His dormitory was definitely a lot better than last year's and the one before, considering he actually had his own bathroom. That was a nice little perk. And since his roommate wasn't coming in for another week, he would be having the bedroom all to himself, and could 'decorate' the main room the way he saw fit.

Not minding to lock the door before he had gone out for his cigarette break, Inuyasha idly walked into his room before flopping down on the couch, turning on the T.V. in the process. He began flipping through the channels, looking for something to pass the time with. Along with trying to 'plan out' what all would be on his agenda this year in school. '_Let's see... Figure out the damned lock combo on the Management and Banking building vault... continue where I left off with Kikyo last year... kill that son of a bitch Koga... oh, probably should do a paper in there every now and then...' _

He wasn't about to ruin his perfect D+ record now.

'_ ... Figure out a way to get rid of my roommate again... Kill my son of a bitch brother...' _He took a quick glance at his Marlboro Pack. '_ ... And get more cigarettes... sounds easy enough...'

* * *

_

Thursday, August 13. 8:22 PM

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

Kagome grinned to herself as several of her excess boxes thumped happily down to the trash compactor that reigned as the basement. '_I told Mama that I didn't need all of that, but **no**, she had to go and pack it back in after I already took the stupid stuff out.' _

"What is it with mothers anyway and packing stuff extra?" Kagome swung around and watched a girl that was obviously older than her walk up to another opening for trash and dump in a few of her own cardboard boxes. "I've told her time and time again, I don't need a wooden back massager..."

The freshman chuckled to herself, peeking down into the dreaded basement to watch the cardboard boxes explode into splinters. "I know what you mean. My mother and grandfather absolutely _insisted_ that I bring all of these different things that most likely would destroy my backbone. Annoying as all get out."

"Yeah..." the older girl opened up the plastic flap and stuck her head into the shaft, laughing as her excess load was dissipated. She quickly picked up a plastic basket containing clothing and brought her head back to the outside. "Well, see you around."

"Yeah, see you later."

Kagome took one final look at her destroyed load now in the basement before beginning to pick up the rest of her items by her foot. She briskly headed up the steps, knowing all too well from previous experiences that if she slowed down she wouldn't be able to get going again.

She began to pant at about the fourth floor, and by the time Kagome got to her floor of residence, her body felt like it could just melt into a big pile of glop. She heaved the cardboard boxes once in her hands over the top step before crawling up it herself. She leaned back against the cold cement wall, eyes closed and breath hard.

Perhaps she would wait to go to that bathhouse behind the building. And perhaps **walking** would suit her best for this living arrangement.

Kagome slowly dragged herself and her things to her dorm room.

* * *

A/N - First chapter done! Hopefully I'm going to get the second one done soon.

Note - Some characters are going to be doing things that a lot of people aren't going to like (For example, Inuyasha smoking), but it fits in with their attitude and character traits.


	2. Ironic

A/N - THAT IS IT! I know I said that this would only be a fifteen chapter story, but I just can't take it any more! I have GOT to get this stupid chapter out already. So, more along the lines... 30 chapters? That's the usual.

* * *

_**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**_

_**Chapter One**_

_**Irony

* * *

**_

Friday, August 14, 10:26 AM

H.C.H. (Hakodate Crew Headquarters)

She would not be put out by her sore leg muscles or the fact that her head was pounding from lack of sleep. Nope, Kagome was here to work, so she would work. Whether or not she would work effectively was a different story.

Holding her coffee cup with both hands to suck away its warmth to her fingers, Kagome sat in a rather slumped position on the long, pale blue bench behind another of the same type of bench, with about seven more behind her. Her hair was in shambles and tangled, with only a wool and fleece hat keeping it from becoming a massive afro. Kagome snuggled her legs closer to her body underneath her coat, scrunching her scarf to stop just below her nose.

_'Why on earth is it this cold in August?' _she thought to herself, quickly glancing around the room at the other early attendees to the H. Crew's first meeting. _'Well... there is the whole fact that I'm in Hokkaido...' _And since the ozone had been even more depleted in the recent years, the northern part of Japan often got dealt cold weather, what with all the heat from the land escaping into space. _'If only I'd been born before 2000...'_

Indeed, for in the year of 2011, the year of her birth, quite a few things had occurred. Some were good things, such as the sudden depletion of oil with the spurting of the now powerful solar energy market along with the remnants of nuclear and coal businesses. In fact, that had greatly helped the problems with the pollution that the planet had been dealt for centuries, making cars either far cleaner or far more expensive, so many people in the world simply walked, took transit, rode a Syukuchi, or car pooled to wherever they were going.

But, lifetime after lifetime of maltreatment to the earth was not going to go unpunished. The punishment was, as it were, half done by Mother Nature, half done by the likes of humans and demons alike. For also in the year 2011, demons came out to the public after a slip up in a Tanzanian alleyway, changing the world even more.

With the announcement of demons among humans and all of those caught in between, there were instant amounts of prejudice and 'Purifications' done throughout the world. For the day of April 4, 2012 would be a day no one would forget or fail to learn about in history class: April 4, 2012, the Purification Massacre of Rome and Paris. Several high Christian bishops, without the knowledge of the pope, deemed that all the demons were evil and wicked, and as such should be slaughtered.

The death count throughout Italy alone toppled those dead in the Vietnam War.

After that, the world powers stepped up and made it law to stop all of the killing and wrongdoing. Unfortunately, once an evil is done, it cannot be undone until its repercussions have settled, for a short lived terrorist group of demons aligned themselves and made threats and strikes in a few places throughout the world. One of those places was Pyongyang.

After an explosion on the main metro-rail in the city, Kim Jong il made it known that his intelligence agency had told him that the terrorists had crossed the border of South Korea to the North to attack, even though it was not surprising. Since one would have to get special permission from the Supreme People's Assembly of North Korea to be considered to enter the country, crossing the border was a usual and simple thing done, although usually the other way around.

Jong il then broke his peace treaty and bombed In'chon, Seoul, Pusan, and other cities of South Korea with nuclear warheads, followed swiftly by an invasion force.

Strange it is how quickly people respond to a problem that they could have fixed long ago but did nothing about it.

Nearly the entire world declared war on the now full People's Republic of Korea, quickly smiting all of the power of North Korea within a year. The United Nations then, as had been done with Cyprus, named Korea in its own care and rule until it could sustain itself, not from war, like with the Mediterranean isle.

The nuclear blast clouds had severely damaged the ozone where it actually hit it, which was northern Japan. Not to mention that all of the forces of the missiles on the ground had caused a crack to form in the tectonic plate, opening up the path for many earthquakes and the arousal of three new volcanoes.

The 2012 Olympic games went on as planned in London.

Many things had also happened in the world from the time Kagome was two to now, 2031. They all would go down in the history books, for things like the Independence of Gaza, The Great Over-Declaration, The 2017 Earthquake (The largest one on record at (9.8) which literally ripped apart Seattle, Washington), and the Union of South America's creation with the independence of French Guiana.

And so, northern Japan was cold. Very cold. No ozone equals No heat, for all of the greenhouse gasses in the area had escaped into space.

Except in early summer months when the place practically melted.

Huddling under her behemoth of warm wear, she looked around the room at all of the unfamiliar faces and bodies. Altogether there was about twelve people, besides her, in the room, several of which she was instantly able to tell were demons. Pretty much anyone could tell some people as demons and others not so simply by looking at them; the ears and fangs would easily give them away. For others, though, Kagome relied on an instinct, a strange feel she would get by being near one.

It wasn't like many of them were all that terrible or anything. And neither was the sense that she got. It was just some random thing that she had, debatable of whether or not it was a gift or curse.

She liked to think it was a little of both.

Suddenly there was a person, well, demon, who caught her eye. He was rather tall, had well tanned skin, and had deep black hair coming from his head, tied back in a high ponytail. He was talking to two other demons, from the sense of things, and suddenly chuckled at a laugh one of the two had cracked.

_'He looks... nice...' _

He was rather handsome as well, and seemed to be of kind nature considering how he was talking with his friends, she assumed. The conversation was not lecherous or stupid (men had an irritating way of talking about baseball or other stupid things around her. And pretty much everyone else.), and she didn't hear any sorts of blasphemy coming from his mouth.

His shirt had the kana on it that read "Wolf Clan", which was obviously one of the clubs on campus. There were many different clubs here, including nearly a hundred for specific types of demon. Thus meaning that this man was a wolf demon.

And rather... attractive... and kind (from what she had so far seen)... and looked like he would be a great person to be with... and provider... not to mention protector...

And yet...

Kagome suddenly realized that one of the man's friends was pointing at her all of the sudden, and the wolf clan demon turned his head and looked at her. He smiled with a grin, saying "Is there a reason you were staring at me?"

She whipped her head back forward to stare at the front wall, blush creeping onto her cheeks. "Um... n-no..."

_'Oh my god, what was I doing!...' _her mind started to go rather haywire as the man walked over and sat down next to her. _'Idiot, idiot, idiot!...'_

_"No reason...?" He asked rather affirmatively, as if saying that he had caught her bluff._

"W-well..."

He looked down at her from where he sat, pulling down the scarf that was covering all of her face except for her eyes. She recently pulled it up. "What's your name?"

"Huh?" Name. What's a name again? Oh yes, a name is what you parents give you at birth. Originated with cave men, with the name of Ogga Ugga.

_'How the hell am I supposed to get through college if I can't even answer a guys' question?' _"Oh, my name... I'm Kagome Higurashi. And you are?..." Nice save.

"I'm Koga," He said definitely, giving her the idea of the confidence he was not lacking in. "Well Kagome, you have a rather pretty face, you know that?"

Looks like that save went right out the window.

The college girl felt blush rise to the surface of her cheeks, shifting nervously in her seat. What was wrong with her! It wasn't like this was the first time a boy had ever hit on her or something like that, was it?

'_Oh yeah... it... is...'_

The doors of the building suddenly burst open, sending Kagome huddling underneath all of her heat-educing layers. The frigid air stung the back of her neck,

but it quickly subsided with the closing of the doors. She was then suddenly aware that most definitely someone else had entered the room.

Slightly turning her head, she saw a man walking down toward the benches, smirking arrogantly to himself. His hair was long and silver as snowflakes at night, and his eyes glowed with an amber hue that seemed to ebb and flow with strength and arrogance.

And something else, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

From the dog ears poking out of a bushel of hair that was likely to be his bangs, the college boy was by far of demon blood. Perhaps not full demon, but had the demonic crimson liquid flowing in his veins.

Clean cut was not the right definition for his demeanor. His shirt was of the sleeveless sort, red in color and tattered around the edges, strips of black running from the top to bottom. Tied around his waist hung a jean jacket of sorts, worn out and grey from sunlight exposure. His pants were of the slightly athletic-mesh type, navy blue with hatch-marks on the ends in white.

Kagome looked at the man before her, and watched his eyes lock with Koga's. Almost a growling sound erupted from both of their throats, sending their fur ruffling if they hadn't been humans. Well, figuratively speaking, of course.

"Looks like your hittin' on a new girl already." The man in red said in a gruff and annoyed tone. "That took you, what, five seconds to go and cheat on Ayame again?"

"Shut it, half-breed shit."

'_So, he _is_ a half-demon...'_

_The man plopped down on the same bench that she was sitting on, crossing his arms over his chest in the process. "Doesn't matter, I can still kick your sorry wolf ass."_

Koga turned his full attention onto the hanyou, snarling in anger. "You wanna try dog shit!"

The half-demon in red cracked a few knuckles and sat up in his seat, bearing his white fangs. "If ya ain't busy-"

"Welcome to the first Hakodate Crew meeting!" A rather overly peppy woman said into the microphone on the podium before her. It suddenly became clear to Kagome that the room had filled up since talking with Koga and meeting... uh, someone or another. She'd get the name in a minute.

Koga quickly stood up and walked out of the aisle, silently seething to the man. "Your dead next time, Inuyasha."

"Keh."

See, it took less than a minute. '_Inuyasha... okay, I think I can remember that name...'_ Kagome turned her attention back to the early riser of a spokeswoman up at the dais, slowly sliding her scarf down from around her face. And from the sounds of it nearby, this Inuyasha was getting scooted over closer and closer to her from rather pushy late comers. "Hey watch it, bastard!" She heard him curse quietly, before getting shoved right next to her.

Never in her life had such an awkward moment ever come to her.

The two of them simply stared ahead at the cheery woman in a overcoat and jeans, her hair pulled back so far that she could have sworn if someone had touched a strand of her raven locks all of her hair would explode.

The sudden image in her mind, the early rising girl having her hair explode like a black bird getting blown up and not loosing a bit of pep, suddenly made her insides tickle. Her shoulders shook quietly, attempting so hard not to burst out laughing.

Inuyasha turned sourly to her for an explanation. "What's so funny, wench!"

She would have told him. She truly would have, had he not added her new title at the end of the sentence.

"What did you just call me...?"

* * *

I'm hoping I'll be able to get at least one of these chapters in a week, being able to get around the constant gripes for me to update my other story faster. : Sigh :. This is cruel and unusual. 


	3. Chopsticks

A/N - Yay! I'm finally getting my inspiration back again! I hope it stays this time. Sorry about the long wait for this, and I hope to be able to get the next chapter out soon, what with English essays to write. Erg, I hate essays, I hate them all. T.T

Wow, long ass chapter.

* * *

_**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**_

_**Chapter Two**_

_**Chopsticks

* * *

**_

Friday, August 14, 4:33 PM

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

"EEERGH!" Kagome groaned over the phone, flopping over and landing on her bed. She crawled up on top of it, sighing while putting the phone to her ear and hand in hair. "I'm telling you, Yuka, this guy is going to drive me insane!"

Her friends cackled on the other line, unaware of the icy glare that was pointed in her… general direction. Hell, which way was north on this campus anyway? "Whatever, Kagome. You're always like this, getting all puffed up over some guy with an attitude and then later going softy on him. Same every time, and I wager you two'll be married by the end of second semester."

"Hey!" What ever happened to a little sympathy these days? Kagome shot up from her spot on the bed, almost staggering from the sudden rush of blood in her body. "I don't get in a huff or something like that! And this guy is awful!" standing now with her legs working correctly, she began to pace around her bright rug, kicking some boxes and clothing out of the way. "I mean, the very first time we meet, he calls me a wench! He doesn't even know who I am!"

She heard another chuckle. "Yeah… I'm pretty sure he got a good impression by what you did to him once the meeting was over. You're so violent."

Okay, her friend was beginning to sound less and less friendly at the moment. "Uh… well, fine, I'm violent, whatever. But he deserved it! Especially when he touched my butt!"

"I admit that last part could deserve a good slap or something," Yuka spun around in her desk chair, smile broad across her face as she stared out the window of her own dorm room. She had roommates, Eri and Ayumi, who were off doing something right now, leaving her all alone in the room. Thus meaning she got to look out at the beach a mile off and listen to her Tokyo buddy instead of her compliance exam studying. " But I don't think cracking a wooden plank over his head was very reasonable. Or helping the matter, for that matter." She stopped and thought. "Oh, matter for matter! Random but nice!"

Ah yes, her infamous saying. "Yes, wonderful, you're defining your science major before my ears." Kagome rolled her eyes before setting back to work on walking in endless circles. "And… It was just… how he LOOKED at me! As if I was not even there and he was looking at someone else or something!"

"Maybe he didn't mean to grope you and thought you were someone else?"

"How is that bloody possible, Yuka? We were assigned as H.C. partners. WE HAD TO LEAVE AT THE SAME TIME!"

"That reminds me, how'd you do on making that bench for your assignment?"

"Missing a board."

"I wonder why…"

"Shut up." _Just a little sympathy, that's all I'm asking for!_

"At least you don't have to see him any more today." Yuka said, flipping on the T.V. in her room. A loud groan sounded from the other line. "…Right?"

"Wrongo." Kagome stuck her finger up in the air, as if declaring her fact in front of a massive audience. "I have to actually eat dinner with that smoking, idiotic, testosterone filled, obnoxious jerk! I mean, I can understand why the Hakodate crew would be doing that, so that all of the members would get to know their partners better and stuff, but why do I have to do it?"

"To get to know him better."

"You're getting dangerously close to being hung up on, you know," Kagome said dangerously. She sank down on her own bed again, scooting up to the front to the pillow and window were. Sitting back against it, she mentally threw darts at a mental dartboard of Inuyasha. "I don't want to get to know him. He obviously doesn't want to give me a second thought, so why should I?"

She heard a small sigh from the other side of the phone, before some ruffling sounds and movement overwhelmed it. "Kagome, don't be so quick to judge, okay? Maybe he has a reason for being like this, huh? Ever think of that?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure." Kagome rolled her eyes, throwing another mental dart. "Like he was stuck to a tree for half his life by some ex-girl friend and only got awoken to find his brother trying to kill him or something. I seriously doubt he has something that bad."

"You mean as bad as you."

She blinked a bit, furrowing her brow to the slightest amount. Kagome huddled up against her legs, drawing warmth and heat from her huggable source. "…yeah, I guess so…"

"Well, who knows, maybe he did have something bad like that happen to him too? You'll never know till you ask."

"…That's true…" _But…_ Kagome gripped her jeans, slowly letting her eyes droop shut for a moment. _No one could possibly have gone through that besides me…_

Her friends' voice brought the girl back to reality. "Seriously, give him a chance."

"Already given." Hrm, that telly was looking rather nice about now.

"Fine, a second chance."

"He had it, lost it with the groping."

Groan. "Okay then, third time's the charm?"

An equal groan in annoyance. "Fine. Third time's the bloody charm. More like voodoo doll charm. Maybe I can make one and string his neck."

"It's a good thing I know you wouldn't do that."

"Yeah, a good thing I know that too."

"That's important."

"Very much so."

Ayumi and Eri came in the door, grocery bags in hand and mouths open in talk. "I gotta go, roommates are back."

"Kay," She said it a little sadly, but she could cope. Now she was going to be alone again. 'Cept for her cable television, of course. "Call you tomorrow?"

"Sure, I'll- WHOA, where'd you get that!"

Huh? "What is it?"

"Huh? Oh sorry. They're putting up the poster of the hottest guy I think I've ever seen. Gotta go drool. See ya Kagome!"

And the line went dead. Kagome sat up and placed the phone back on the receiver, then grabbing hold of the TV controller. She tried to remember which channels went with which broadcasting companies, but once again her memory failed her. Turning it on, her mind simply wandered a bit, back to the incident that had lost her a crucial board for that bench.

_"Would you** please** help me out of here?" She called at Inuyasha, standing a bit away and smoking a cigarette. In the arm on the outside of the door Kagome held the wood, while the other on the inside held all of the metal screws, nails, hammer and other things that had been given to her for her instant bench project. Instant her ass, considering she couldn't even move her own butt because the sliding door and pinned her to the frame._

_"Nope." He exhaled slowly, letting the puff from the tobacco and his visible breath converge in the cold air. Sticking his hands in his pockets and letting the thumbs hang out, Inuyasha was about to walk off until he heard her grunt and clattering behind him. He rolled his eyes and turned back to face her, tell her that he wasn't doing shit for this._

_But he stopped and stared. Subconsciously Inuyasha recognized why she had seemed familiar, that she looked so much like Kikyo. They were so alike that they could have been passed off as sisters, but their eyes would have done them in. Kikyo's eyes were calm and refined, cold like a gentle winter._

_This girl, though, she was completely different. He stared at her angry eyes, so full of life and energy. They were overflowing with heat and spirit, happiness killing off some small twinge of something else. He couldn't quite tell what it was, but ignored it all the same. Her eyes were entrancing, sending shockwaves down his backbone and making him stop stiff._

_In a huff she stomped off past him and up the hill, towards her predetermined spot to build the bench. Inuyasha started off on her before halting and doing a double take. Holy crap… she's… He looked over her body, even though he wasn't doing too good since he was behind her, and saw what he hadn't recognized in that crew meeting house. She's beautiful…_

_Normally, he would say, or think, hot, not gorgeous. But there was a powerful difference between the two. Beauty, what this girl before him exposed unknowingly before him, was a complete balance of the paramount of body, mind, and soul. The body was being hot, the mind being knowledgeable, and the soul would mean that they were inspirited, having the personality of an angel and sensing what demons could only because of their powers. Most men only searched after women that were hot, as did he. There were tons of girls all around him that were, but they were bimbos that most likely didn't know their foot from their hand. Finding a woman that was truly beautiful was rare, and quick to draw a man's attention. _

No wonder Koga was flirting with her…

_He stopped following her and placed a hand up over his face. _What the hell is wrong with me all of the sudden!… I can't…_ Slowly he opened his fingers and eyes, getting entranced all over again. _Stop looking at that wench.

_The cigarette was becoming an annoyance now. It wasn't doing anything at all, trying to give him a rush that… that… Ugh, what's her name again? that she was already doing. It was like his brain was on fire, processing and analyzing and trying to figure itself out. His stomach had turned into a knot, while his lungs were burning from the smoke filling up in his lungs._

_With a short cough he grabbed the stick of tobacco and chucked it. Only after it left his hands did he realize where it was going…_

_Right at her._

_And the angle kept dropping its path lower and lower on her body until it was going to land on her…_

_Aw, shit! Inuyasha jumped forward, had outstretched and catching the evil little white thing just in the nick of time. Unfortunately he didn't stop soon enough and his hand rammed straight into her butt. For a small moment he thought he might have liked it, having done so with tons of other women before. But this time he almost had to rip off his arm, he felt so guilty._

_With a startled gasp Kagome whipped around to face his frantic face. "Uh…" He stood there for a moment like a kid that had gotten framed before a sly smile marched onto his lips. "Just wondering what it might be like if you sat on my hand. Not bad ass, by the way."_

_He could tell she wasn't the type to handle this type of thing well. "Really?… well…" She gripped a piece of lumber._

_"**SIT ON THIS, YOU PERVERT**!"_

_The block of wood slammed against the top of his head, sending Inuyasha face first into the pavement._

"Nope." Change channel.

"Nope." Jeez, 150 stations and nothing at all?

"Rrg…" _I should kill the genius who decided to make infomercials. _

"You've gotta be kidding me." She would not be outdone. Kagome continued to flip through the channels on the T.V., making a sound half-way between a grunt and a sigh at the sheer idiocy. All of that cable and yen being spent up for nothing… not a single station that was showing something she liked. Or would listen to, one of the two.

A knock on her door stopped her button hitting, as Kagome idly looked over at the door. "It's open."

Ah yes, the hyper creepy lady from the Hakodate Crew. Her name was… something. Ugh, what was it again?

"Hi, it's Rin, just wondering what you were doing all alone, since your roommate isn't here yet." Ah yes, Rin. The girl slipped through the door and smiled at her, turning her attention over to the T.V. "What are you watching?"

"Good question." She sighed and returned to feeling up the remote control. "I was channel surf-" Kagome stopped in dead sentence when she noticed what was be played on the glass screen in front of her. Rin froze and stared.

Apparently the Head executives at this place were sick, considering the foreign porn channel was included in the cable deal.

"AHH! SHUT IT OFF!" Kagome all but threw the remote at the T.V., in turn only turning the volume up to the highest degree. She started grabbing random things near her and chucked them at the effervescent telly. "HELP RIN!"

The girl didn't need to be told that. Apart from her distracting blush, she was already in front of the screen pushing random buttons at the bottom to see what they did. While dodging a thrown alarm clock, she turned her head over at the rommie. "WHAT THING DOES WHAT!"

"SABES QUE HACER…" The television blared.

"I'VE BEEN HERE A DAY, I HAVE NO IDEA!" Beware of flying frying pan.

Color inversed. "Nope not that one…"

"AGH SHUT IT OFF, SHUT IT OFF!"

"AH, YO QUIERO TE BURRO."

"WHAT IS THIS BUTTON!"

"PERVERT, SICKO, JACK-ASS-"

"AH! IT GOT BRIGHTER!"

" TE ENAMORADO?"

"SI, YO-"

"YARGH!" Why does a freshman in college have a lawn mower in her room?

"WHOA, WATCH IT!"

"NO, I HIT MY COMPUTER!"

"SI…"

"NO…"

"OH, SI…"

"SHUT UP YOU SPANISH SLUTS!"

Inuyasha looked up from his spot under a tree at the commotion going on in that girl's dorm room. "What the?…"

Mute button. They both inhaled a bit before scrambling to unplug the stupid device.

Rin was on her haunches, panting above the neon rug and wiping away a lone bead of sweat. Her face was red with heat when she finally sat back on her legs, trying to think of what to say after something like that. It was a lot harder than she thought, having been used to finding something to say about anything. Now, though, she was out of words.

"I wonder…" She looked over and Kagome, sitting distraught and in a tangle on the floor. "…Why did I have a lawn mower in here?"

* * *

5:34 PM

Dasunoshi Building, Men's Dormitory

Inuyasha leaned back in his chair, pursing his lip to keep the cigarette inside. It wasn't lit, just simply there. He felt like he just kind of wanted it there, to have something to do, to clamp his teeth on.

_It's still there, though…_ He grumbled and rolled his eyes, resting his head in his palm. _That… buzz, or whatever from that girl… Ka, Kage… Kaguya or something._

He stared listlessly out the window, watching the slowly massing group of people down at the center fields. That strange H.C. dinner thing was tonight, when you had to eat with your assigned partner and find out more about them. He'd gone through this all before, and knew that he had to do it. It was either that or literally get dragged out there.

That's how it always was, usually sending someone up to fetch him at first, then they send the top guy, Hobo or whatever his name was. After that they'd threaten you with lowering your entrance grades (which he discovered last time was very much possible) before coming and dragging you out of the dorm.

But what was it about that girl?… The thing that actually kind of wanted him to go there just to see her again… what on earth was going on? She was beautiful and all, but he didn't actually have a reason to want to see her. In fact he should hate her, dislike her like all of those damned humans.

He was just going nuts, that's all. If he got back with Kikyo then everything would be fine, he'd simply forget about that… "Wench."_ For a lack of a better word…_

Watching the slow progress being made on putting up the tables and setting out the food, Inuyasha scoffed and rolled his eyes. All of those damned humans and demons… all of them were alike. Judging him as some stupid half-breed, giving him no place for him to ever be or live in. All of them were so weak, too, including the damned demons. They were all talk and no action, as he'd discovered often. It showed with the blood on his record of their prejudice.

How it was that he had ended up dating Kikyo, a human woman, was beyond him. He guessed that it was that they were in the same boat and all, her being Ainu-Mongoloid mix while he was a demon-human mix. Society didn't give either of them a life for them to lead, although for her it was because she was pitied and respected too highly, being the opposite for him.

He thought over it a while. Maybe the reason that girl seemed so… attracting was that she… wasn't in the same boat. It was like even though she knew what he was, she hadn't seemed to care that much, and even tried to make friendly conversation at first. Until he started acting like his normal self, that's when things changed.

"Keh." He stood up and spat out his unlit death-stick, watching it fly out of his window and land in a tree. "Guess I won't beat around the bush." He said to pretty much himself, grabbing his worn out jacket. It had a few holes here and there, along with a good many splotches of mud and asphalt grinds on it, but it still did the job of keeping him warm.

He was just going so as to not be dragged out there, that was all. He wasn't going out to see… what's her face again. Just going to go down, get a free soy-burger or something and come back to the dorm. That was all, that was it. Just getting right to the point.

Now, if he could only convince himself of that…

* * *

6:01 PM

Center Fields, Mid-Campus

Kagome had to admit, she was a little surprised to see Inuyasha walking down the steps to join the dinner meeting. From what she had seen earlier, he was a guy who only cared about doing nothing and… she cringed. _And getting a girl into bed with him…_

"Something wrong?" Rin nudged her in the side, looking up at her new-found friend's distressed face. Before Kagome was even able to answer, though, the girl had followed her gaze to see Inuyasha heading ever so nonchalantly towards the make-shift tables that were set up.

Sighing, Rin nodded in her friends' distress. "Ah, self-explanatory. Just sock it to 'im if he decides to go wacko on you."

_Gone wacko, going loco…_

_This time, Kagome wasn't going to take any chances. As the half demon approached her, she made good notice to keep herself facing forward toward him, inching away as discreetly as possible. She watched him carefully, hawk-like and dangerous. If he was going to try to pull another fast one on her, then he had another thing coming. Sure, she didn't have a wooden weapon this time, but she was pretty sure that aluminum table would do nicely…_

And as a perk, she might be able to get some of the brightly colored paint to stick to his hair. She was evil when wary, and was proud of it.

He stepped right up to her, lips hinting at a small smirk. _That bloody pervert…_

His face changed suddenly. "Hey, what are you looking at me like that for?" He bent over at the waist, meeting her gaze eye to eye with a slightly annoyed tone of posture. "There something you wanna tell me or something? Huh? Well? Well?"

Well wasn't he the annoying brat? "Yeah, you smell like death stick ashes."

He bent back up to normal position, forcing Kagome to actually take in his normal stance. His pants and shirt were the same as before as well as the other accommodations that came with it, but now he was wearing a beat up jacket. It looked like it had met that old trash compacter a few hundred times over. His back was straight and strong, shoulders broad and intimidating. _Like I'm gonna get intimidated by you, you son-of-a-._ He was actually rather tall, a good head or so higher in frame than she was.

He went back to an egotistic smirk, pointing a finger over to the table nearby with food. "Is all of that free?"

_Typical guy… Only here for the food…_ "Dig in."

"Sweet."

She watched him flick a pair of chop-sticks out of his pocket, and head over towards the buffet of Japanese and American food. The chopsticks were actually rather grungy looking, battered up and cracked every here and there. The food from many a previous meal had been cleaned off, but the small particles of food had already dug into the crevices, edging them closer to the brink of shatter.

He didn't seem to mind too much, though. Ignoring some of the disgusted faces people made around him, he simply picked up a plate and began picking up food from the different pans.

_What! That's so rude, and sick!_ He was picking up food alright, but from the end he ate with instead of the other. Sheesh, he really was an egotistic, perverted jerk.

Kagome stalked over to the table, whipping out her own chop-sticks, in much better condition, and smiling softly at the remaining people unloading the second helpings of each item. She gave an icy glance over her shoulder to look at _him_, but then quickly snapped her head back. He'd managed to catch her spying on him.

"That's the second time I've found you staring at me. Think I'm hot, huh?" He lifted an eyebrow at the thought, a rather large leer tugging at his lips. He rubbed his chin with the hand that held his utensils, staring back at her seductively.

"Get over yourself, perv." She pushed him out of the way and continued to gather food. "Besides, you were blocking the soboro and wonton."

He chuckled to himself, not really minding what it was that he was putting on his plate. She could tell; he was snagging every last bit of blowfish in front of him. _I guess he likes living on the edge…_

"You never did answer my question." He leaned over towards her, face inching a closer bit by bit, his slyness placid all over his face.

He was greeted by a sift thwack on the nose by her bamboo eating utensils.

"Yeow!" he dropped his own chopsticks on the ground, stepping on and crunching them when he stepped back.

"I said wonton, not wanton." Without another word, she lightly stepped over to the sashimi.

* * *

A/N-

1. Yes, chopsticks are used in Japan. As well as China, Korea, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Mongolia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Oh, and me.

2. Note: Eating blowfish is VERY dangerous. About one served to you in thirty will be fatal. The reason being is that in Japan and China, where most of the product is caught in the Sea of Japan, a good amount of the poorer fishers will catch the fish, cut it off and then sell it to marketers. The problem is that if you have to be trained to cut the fish, being able to know what organs are what so as to not include the liver, stomach, spleen, gentiles or the skin. All of those have a deadly venom to humans.

3. In nations where Chopsticks are the main source of eating things with, you use the back of the sticks to pick up food being served, so as to not get your germs on the food from your eating and to be polite. It is considered terribly rude to use the front end of the sticks to pick things up, as is not saying Itadakimasu before you eat and Gochisasama when you are done.

4. If you want to know what the food is, look it up. I can't spell everything out for you.


	4. Reception

A/N - When the Zen horoscope said that October would be my month of brutality, I didn't pay attention. It is now November, and I am now good master in Japanese numerology, Shinto ceremonies of purification of demonic entities, and creating spirit wards. Basically, last month was HELL. I had four creative burn outs, four times a computer went psycho on me, four MASSIVE tests/ essays to create in a week (no, twas not procrastination), and four mental snaps because of four friends going loco. Notice a trend here? Good. Wanna know why? Four is a _baaaaaaad_ number. It means painful death. Nine is rather bad too, it meaning suffering, but that one is more flexible. So now I plan my days on numerology, horoscopes of Buddha and Zen, and have either 3, 5, or 7 Shinto prayers a day. I'm little paranoid…

Thus, I am worried about this chapter, since it is number four. Aie. (wait, it's technically three and four at the same time. A lucky number against an unlucky one… SCORE!)

* * *

_**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**_

_**Chapter Three**_

_**Reception

* * *

**_

Monday, August 17, 10:43 AM

Hakodate Main Campus Office Hall

Inuyasha was far from happy. For one, his chopsticks were broken, and super glue only worked so well. One might find this a little stupid, for him to be angry over broken chopsticks when he could just get another pair, but it wasn't that simple. Under the Over Declaration, an article instated by those oh so brilliant people in the United States which spread over the sea -

"Land of the free my ass." he muttered under his breath.

- which was meant to keep humans superior to those with demonic blood, stated eating utensils, including chopsticks, a "Desirable commodity", not a necessity. And as such, only humans could rightfully purchase them, while all others had to be given them and keep the ones only given to him or her.

Obviously, in history this did not go over well. With the Demon Equality movement that was beginning to finish up in time, this law was basically revoked, along with a good amount of the Over Declaration, only that now these items could only be bought from a specialist in the field. Bamboo was stated to not be fit for creating items as such, because the fibers could harbor diseases and/or fungi, making only specific types of wood, stone and other such materials usable for eating with. World health had gone way out of proportion by this point in time.

And these specialists consisted of only demons and humans, since no one would teach hanyou how to do such a thing. And because he was a hanyou, no one would sell him anything like that. So, Inuyasha was forced to keep the old, stingy chopsticks he had, getting replaced every five years when his brother had a random reflux of guilt.

He was only on year two of that cycle. Frustrating as hell.

The front reception hall was not as full as it would be within a week or two, filling up with people begging to be transferred out of their classes and into something else, more interesting, easier, or less to impact their partying career. Only several students, all from the Hakodate Crew so far, were in there, talking to a receptionist or two, asking about possible ideas for the most fake and dry little grouping of people he'd ever met before. And he had quite a good history with those types of people.

The Wreckage Hallway, as the place had so been nicknamed decades ago with the college's opening and development of student slang, was no more than a L shaped building, high ceilings for no apparent reason and thick walls to keep in the heat during most of the year. The walls, a dull acid yellow bleached light in patterns of the windows of the years, were actually the most interesting part of the building. Because they had never been repainted over since their creation four decades back, there were numerous different, permanent patterns of the window light that had tinted them in their page of history. One could trace back all sorts of historic event on those walls, which had been done as a project of the Hakodate Crew his Freshman year. A long, white and red nylon strip ran across the walls, thumbtacks sticking out and matching up with small plexi-glass boxes which held information about the important date inside.

This was one of his very few fond thoughts of the college. Inuyasha, being a history major, could barely stop himself from walking over to the walls, stained in white from the passage of time. Every time he came in, they just attracted him to it, making his mind go deep into thought which not many things - or people- were able to do. He did admit that much. Never openly, of course.

This time, though, he wasn't snagged in by them. Mostly because of a certain wolf demon who was conducting a tour of the place to college student parents and friends, telling them only the blatant information of the history facts, mostly of how he helped work on the project. Like hell. Oh sure he helped, if you include the idea of forcing several of the Hakodate crew members on the project into loosing their virginity helping out. _Bloody, demonic pervert…_

Oh well, he had gotten some good ideas for blackmail out of that matter. Anyway, Inuyasha had business for being here. Preparing himself mentally and physically for what was going to come, he walked over to the main reception desk, cringing as he saw the usual one, the one who had been here since the invention of receptionists most likely, sitting there with a frown on her face, typing some random information into a computer system.

"Oi, Kaede," he said, resting one elbow on the counter, placing his head on his hand and looking down at the old woman. She cracked an eye at him, quickly finishing up whatever business she had on the computer to speak with him. One thing she had learned by now, when Inuyasha Taisho talks to you, it takes a while for him to shut up.

"Good morning to you, Taisho," she said half-heartedly, almost sighing on her bad luck. Probably because it was 10:44. Two fours… wonderful. "And what has decided to tick you off today."

"Very funny. Listen, I was wondering if you could, say…" he pursed his lip in a way that made him look to be coming up with something off the top of his head, although it had been overused by so many people it was simply just a wordless and indescribable expression. Just a part of life. "_Accidentally_ delete that Kagemo, no… Kaguya… Mekago… whatever, just get the girl who has been elected to be my partner for the H.C. out of the system?"

"And since when do I owe you an 'I-O-U'?"

Great, looked like she was utilizing her fluent English against him again. "Look, I don't care. Just get her out now!" He griped his hands into his bangs, showing a rare sign of desperation. "She is driving me nuts!"

"Is that in the good way or insane way?"

"THE BAD WAY, YOU OLD GAS-BAG!"

"Be kind to ye elders."

"When they speak from this century."

She rolled her eyes. "Let's take a look at her credentials first, eh?"

There she went again. Whenever it came to an actual living person, it was credentials, credentials, credentials, numbers, numbers, numbers. That was all she compared living things to; their educational record and school ID. It was so numerically analytical, but Inuyasha accepted it. She probably had a good reason for the mindset, such as crappy memory.

"From what it says here, she has a 5.0 in all her categories, except artistry in Paper Creations and Sculpture, her majors, where it is 5.2 and 5.16, respectfully. She has outstanding emotional and leadership skills in every place, and one quote here from a high school teacher says that _Ka**go**me_ is," She slipped her reading glasses on from her forehead, squinting slightly at the bright Xenon screen. "A wonderfully spirited girl, uplifting and a positive thinker. She has the _it_ of artists, being able to see deeper and more clearly into anything any average Shou could be able to. If she wanted to be in any other field, she would undoubtedly have no problem, but she has vowed herself to her artwork, and I respect this vibrant young woman for that." Off came the reading glasses.

Inuyasha now felt rather… awkward. _A 5.O? In every class! She's a genius! Not to mention an apparently skilled artist and terribly beautiful when she looked at me from the back with the sunlight hitting her face just right and…Great, my brain is betraying me again…_ "W-well… it's not like those grades can tell anyone about their personality!"

"How about that she's a hard worker?"

He scoffed, retrieving his arms and setting them firmly against his chest. "Like hell that's true…"

"Look, Inuyasha, you knew from the beginning that I wouldn't be able to do anything to 'get rid of her' or whatever…" The old receptionist began closing down the different program windows, feeling that she was beginning to talk to a brick wall instead of an animate object. "So just accept the project already, and leave me be to getting my crappy pay every two weeks."

"Huh?" _Project? What the hell is she talking about?_ "Project? What project?"

Kaede ignored his question verbally, instead pointing over to the opposing wall with her ball point pen, taking a sip of her deep black coffee. It was so stale and parched that it could have been passed off to be molasses, but she enjoyed it anyway. Even though it was rather tough, as one might say, it tasted far nicer than the instant brew, hyper caffeine types the younger folk were attaching themselves to. She drank her coffee not to be woken up, but simply to drink instead of eating two boxes of doughnuts, as some receptionists did on good occasion. And then they wondered why their weight loss programs weren't working. All aho to her.

Inuyasha padded over to the bulletin board on the far wall, bending over to peer at the quickly forming conglomerate of way too neon colored papers. Forget the college neighbors who blasted their music too loud, these could make anyone go blind! Or wish they were, in any case.

"Let's see…" He started to mumble to himself, panning through the bright papers like a child in a massive plastic ball pin. "Hakodate Crew… Hakodate Crew…."

Of course, bright pink. "A HA! Now… project… project… what's this project…"

No way.

No bloody demonic way.

This was impossible. He had never been this lucky in his life. Inuyasha couldn't help the malicious grin that peeled onto his face, growing further and further as he read each and every individual line on the effervescent paper. It got to a point that he stopped reading it in his mind, and went out verbally once more over just to make sure he wasn't hallucinating or something.

"By the end of the day that the rest of the college students get to school (Wednesday) and before classes begin, each member of the Hakodate Crew is required to do something nice for their assigned partner. Be creative! Help them out with moving in their roommate, take them out to lunch, ANYTHING! Except going out and buying a gift, that is not, repeat, **not** acceptable. Let this show them how good you are, and strengthen the Hakodate Crew soul for this year!"

Yep, cheesy as ever. Inuyasha had gotten used to it by now, mostly because he knew who the guy running the place was. He was _very_ old fashioned, a block head, naïve, and you could basically shower the content of the truth in his face with a blow torch and he still wouldn't catch on. How annoyed he was with Hojo…

But who cared about that?

He was getting an evil plan. A very wicked one indeed. Inuyasha tried desperately from cackling on his way out of the building, walking off to a tram and the hardware store.

* * *

Wednesday, August 19, 1:20 PM

Outside of Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

"Okay, you'll be rooming with Tsunyako-san, in room 421." _Whoever this Tsunyako girl is…_Kagome smiled gently at the new dorm settler, who was trying to make it up the stairs to the building while holding two bags in each arm and one desperately clinging in her teeth. She tried to kick at the door to open it, but a card key was required, and she didn't dare try to scrounge around for it.

Kagome glared over at the group of boys who had been assigned to help, talking to each other and making passes at girls who were trying to make it to their room. Altogether there was about four of them, members of the American-football teams, if she wasn't mistaken by their oh so cliché sports jackets. One began passing around death-sticks, lighting his own once everyone else was laughing at their gut and sticking their own cigarette between their lips.

How she loathed college boys. They weren't men. Being a man meant maturity, not age. These aho were closer to a massive beetle, maybe scaring some people around a bit but in truth their brains were about the size of bat crap.

"If you want something done," she began chanting to herself, shoving her metal chair out from under her and stomping off towards the laggards. "Then do your want, and be proud of it."

This would be a lot easier if they weren't so much bigger than her. Oh well, she had a tazer in her pocket, just in case anyone wanted to get frisky. Either that or she would whack their heads in good with that bench over there…

"Hey, laggard aho!" That got the boys attention. "Get off your perverted butts and start helping out already! There are girls over here that are going to get smushed by their own luggage soon, and they can't even get in the door! And didn't you go to health class! Smoking is going to kill you, not that I'm complaining!"

"Oh give us a break, babe. Why don't you come over here to daddy and let me-"

"I have no father."

She said it with every last bit of ice in her soul, forcing her face to contort into a look of suppressed rage. She had to admit, from their reactions, Kagome felt proud that her little masquerade worked. She had _long_ gotten over having no father, so she had to think of other things that made her angry for this to work. Not too hard when a prime example is right in front of you.

She'd waited too long. One pebble thrown against an ego as big as theirs wasn't going to do much. It was like trying to pick a lock with toothpaste. Not easy, and usually with very messy outcomes.

"W-well," Great, the idiotic sod was making a quick comeback. "… Oh just back off. What would you know anyway, you're a girl."

**_KRACK, KABOOOOOOOOM!_**

WRONG ANSWER!

One really shouldn't say something like that to the person who founded a club in her high school called "The Society for Full Women's Rights", or SFW. And the one who quite often had to resort to butting heads with others to get her point across. Literally; guys at her school had the brain damage to prove it.

"WHOA, WHOA, WHOA! DID YOU HONESTLY **JUST** SAY THAT! WERE YOU ASLEEP DURING THE JAPANESE WOMEN'S RIGHTS MOVEMENT, YOU BLATANT, SHOVENOUS, JOCK-ASS WHO HAS MORE BICEPS THAN BRAINS! OR MAYBE THAT'S WHERE YOUR BRAIN IS! IT WOULD MAKE SENSE, CONSIDERING YOU DON'T EVEN HAVE THE MATURITY TO SAY "OH, MAY I OPEN THE DOOR FOR YOU, MISS? OH NO, I'LL HELP YOU WITH THAT!" OBVIOUSLY **MEN** DON'T EXSIST ANYMORE, ONLY LITTLE BOYS LIKE YOU! AND WHO ARE YOU TO SAY _I_ AM DUMB? I AM A WOMAN, AND I AM A BLODDY PERSON, SO IF YOU DON'T COMPLY WITH ME, I CAN SOOOOOOOOOOO KICK YOUR ASS FROM HERE TO OKINAWA, GOT IT, DADDIYO! SO GET YOU BLOODY ASS UP THOSE STAIRS AND START HELPING OUT OR I WILL KOCK YOU SO HARD THAT YOUR FAMILY WILL HAVE NO NEXT GENERATION OUT OF YOU!"

Hard to make a come back to flat out applause.

Inuyasha watched silently, observing this Kagoe… Kagone?…_What was it… Oh, Kagome, Kagome, kay, got it…For now at least…_in her rather dramatic explosion. He kept a nonchalant face on, resting his neck on his arms, looking through his puffs of air down at the ground. There was a massive amount of women around her, most of whom coming into Kichinkyo, clapping their heads off, jeering out at the four knuckle-heads who, he had to admit, looked rather dumb. No logic. Just all ego. And muscle, for that matter. It looked like the guy was _trying _to gain so much muscle that he had trouble walking. He in his extra small clothing too, just to be even more of a show-offy pervert.

He rolled his eyes, staring back up at the dead leaves on the branches, chewing on a piece of Pocky from his room. _Those jock idiots… they don't even know **how** to use their muscle, they only want it for show…_

_The four guys decided maybe they should just drop this for now. They somewhat brushed themselves off, mostly of ashes, and started picking up a box or two and carrying it up the stairs to the very nervous and sweaty girl, her bangs plastered to her forehead and knees caving in to the weight. Without another moment she collapsed, covered in a mountains of floral covered suitcases._

Kagome smacked her hand to her face.

- - - -

3:40 PM

_Must… stay… awake…_Kagome Higurashi had been helping new members into her building since one, both physically (those boys didn't stay long) and mentally. And now she was waiting for the late comers, along with her own roommate. Her brain felt fried, broiled, and rolled up in a seaweed wrap for all she cared. Hmm… sushi… maybe she could call her mother tonight and ask her for her 'famous' Akuyu no yo na sushi…

Droooool…

A lone syukuchi motored up the hill towards the Kichinkyo, holding a lone driver and what looked to be about a hundred massive boxes duct taped onto the back to keep them from falling off. The poor motor was probably going to explode from exhaustion soon.

Kagome did more than just stare. She used her entire head to. It followed the overstuffed machine up the slope, it coughing smoke as it reached the stop, giving a burp kind of sound before it died on the spot. The rider knocked the stabilizing rods into place on the ground, picking her helmet off her head in a massive fury. Her hair didn't seem to like this all too much, since she then spent a minute or two trying to tame it back down, or pull it back down, one of the two.

She wore a kind of fleece, cape like overcoat, being one of the ugliest combinations of red and puke brown Kagome had ever seen in her life. It had a nice feel, but something told her that thing hadn't seen a washing machine in the last decade. Her hair was long, pulled back up near her head held in a pinkish red type of strange scrunchy, being puffy at the bottom and thin at the top. Underneath her overcoat, though, was a gentle short sleeved shirt, winter blue and loose around her body, covering up the top of what looked to be _maroon_ jeans. How the heck did one get jeans to be maroon!

Kagome felt very sheepish in the plainness of her own outfit.

"Hi!" The girl bowed slightly to Kagome, who bowed back out of respect, nearly getting thwacked in the face with the woman's hair when she snapped back up.

"Um, hi…" Try as she could, Kagome couldn't for the life of her keep from looking at the behemoth of boxes stacked at least five meters high on the wilting Syukuchi. Oh, behemoth of boxes! Random, but nice!

The girl looked behind her to see the reason of the stare, and then whipped back around in a fluster. "Oh that. Sorry, my father has an amazing attraction to duct tape, and is always looking for ways to use it. So…"

"Ah. No need to explain, I have a psycho parent as well." Whew, ice broken. Kagome sat back down at her make-shift desk, flipping through the binder to look for room information. "Um… can I get your room number, please?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah hold on…"

Kagome gaped.

In all of five seconds this girl had ravaged through ten _very_ well hidden pockets in her outfit, the leather container of the Syukuchi, and two of the boxes in her payload before handing the paper to her. "Here we go, room number 826."

"Oh, that means you're my roommate. That's my room number."

"Really? Awesome! I'm Sango. Sango Yunotoaija."

"Kagome Higurashi." _She says to the wacko, freaky girl… I hope I didn't think that out loud…_

"Well…" Kagome almost twisted her neck to look behind the stack of move-in-ables, seeing a massive line of nothing behind it. She thanked Buddha. "Considering the fact that everyone seems to be here, let's get this stuff upstairs."

"Upstairs?" Sango watched the ever nonchalant Higurashi head over to the stack, eyeing it over carefully to determine the best way to attack. "What floor are we on?"

"Eighth."

"EIGHTH! I THOUGHT THIS BUILDING DOESN'T HAVE AN ELEVATOR!"

"It doesn't."

Sango gave a slight whimper. Taking off her overcoat, she headed over to her Syukuchi, grimacing as she began to tear at the duct tape.

Wait a second.

She took _off_ her overcoat.

Here.

In Hakodate.

Where heat doesn't exist.

"Aren't you cold like that?" Kagome asked her, tightening her own scarf more firmly around her neck.

"Nope. I live near Goryokaku, in the north eastern part of Hakodate. The only reason I decided against going to the University of Okinawa was because of my father, since he's not been doing too good health wise, so I just went to the opposite side of town to savor the last bits of sanity I have left."

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

"Ah, don't be. I got over it a long time ago, so don't be troubled by my burdens."

It wasn't that easy. Kagome still felt guilty about bringing it up…

But that went out of her mind when she did go out of her mind to avoid the tsunami of cardboard coming after her.

----

4:27 PM

"So…" Sango puffed on the ground, stomach resting on one of her boxes. "…exhausted…"

"At least you threw about four fifths of your crap down in the trash compactor. Can you imagine trying to bring all of that stuff up here!"

Kagome wasn't too sure what her response was, or what the sound she made was, in fact. It sounded like a cross between a groan and a cow vomiting. Not that she had ever witnessed such beauty of a cow throwing up in her life.

She stepped over the resting Sango to the phone, having a REALLY big craving for da suupa sushii of her mother.

"Moshi moshi, Higurashi residence, Ms. Higurashi speaking."

Yes, first try. "Hi mom, how's everything going in Tokyo?"

"Oh, hi Kagome! It's all going fine, though your brother seems a bit… _theatrical_… if you get what I mean…"

Her brother, always the one to make a big fuss out of nothing. One time when they were younger, he had run home telling his grandfather that there had been a terrorist attack downtown when it turned out to be there was a frog being stuck in a water valve and blocking the water supply of one building. "Lemme guess… the soccer ordeal?…"

"You know his aspiration…"

Both mother and daughter chided in unison the imitation of their son's/brother's voice, "I'm gonna be the kick-ingest soccer star ever!"

"Oi, that twerp… oh, wait, side tracked! Okay, I called to see if I could get the recipe to your Akuyu no yo na sushi? Is that taboo?"

"Oh, it's no trouble at all, lemee just find the card with it on it…"

It wasn't all that hard to make. Only the ingredients weren't exactly easy things to find in your average supermarket. So seeing as nothing else could be done about it, she hung up, list in hand, grimace on face.

"What's the matter?"

"THESE INGREDIENTS! Half the things I've never even heard of! For example, what's hokutojomaekingyobachi! That's the longest name I've ever-"

"It's fish."

Dumb. Silence.

"Yeah, fisherman catch it around here all the time. Just look at the name: Hokuto, northeast, jomae, lock, kingyobachi, fishbowl, though it's more of a term than a dish, making reference to how the fish is weighed, in bowls, not kilograms. It's North eastern lock fish, measured in bowls."

Kagome was all but flabbergasted.

Sango sat up and snatched the paper out of her hands. "Let me see this 'impossible list' of yours…" She suddenly shook at her wrist, flipping it over to check the time. With new found energy, the girl sprang up, waiting a moment to let her blood catch up with her, before latching onto the Tokyo girl and bolting out of the room.

"What are you doing?"

"If we hurry, we can make it!…"

"What!"

* * *

A/N

Name of next chapter : Red Revenge. Oh, that sounds so dramatic!

Now, on to the usual stuff found at the end.

1. If you go to any college in the entire world, there is always going to College slang/names for places, no matter how many street signs might be put up. Some examples are the Ghetto, the Dark side (happy world to Star War fans), Art Street, and etc.

2. I already told you about my numerology problem…

3. Asking for straight, American coffee Japan, especially in the state of Hokkaido, is basically asking for suicide. What you will get is like resin, so sticky that you could glue a truck to the side of a sky scraper and you would have a new form of art. Crap. So, when Kaede says she likes her coffee like that, it means she has a hidden, sticky, sweet tooth.

4.Yes, it is VERY possible to get a grade higher than a 4.0. This is called extra credit. Say it with me… Extraaaaaaaa… Creediiiit….

5.When the term "Some Shou on the street" comes up, it basically is the equivalent of saying "any random, normal, sane guy." Shou is a terribly popular name for boys in Japan, and is so common it gets annoying. It even sounds like average Joe…

6.Xenon is an element, when used right, is **_EXTREMELY BRIGHT!_** Do not try to look right into xenon light bulb directly, or blindness will follow your stupidity. However, it has been estimated that a more controlled version of that light bulb will be in production by 2025, so I just added that little tid-bit in.

7. Hakodate is actually a very nice town. It was one of the few ports in Japan that let any foreign trade into the country during it's seclusion age. Because of it's fondness of worldwide culture, there are actually trams, similar to those of San Francisco, running about the city. Where Tokyo has it's monorails and subways, Hakodate has it's trams, and _loves_ to show them off! So, naturally, Inuyasha would get onto a tram instead jump into a cab or something.

8. Don't trust cab drivers in Japan. You'll be asking for an hour of confusion and pain. Mostly to your pocket book.

9. Right now there are the brewings of a women's rights movement coming into the Nihon/Nippon/Japan/ whatever, and that has always been a problem with the culture and society. So, in Kagome's time, where the movement has only recently ended, she _really_ gets ticked about the idiotic jock-asses who don't seem to realize it's happened.

10. Baka vs. Aho. Depends where you are. I'll explain. In the Tokyo prefecture, calling someone a baka is the kind of equivalent of calling them a moron, idiot, or just plain stupid. Aho, on the other hand, is terribly offensive, kind of like calling someone a retard, but much, _much _harsher. However, in the prefecture Kobe and Osaka are in, the meanings are reversed. And in the Northern areas, you can say either baka, oroka, or aho, and they all pretty much mean the same thing, but oroka is little more derogatory. So, Kagome is being rather mean in calling the boys Aho. However, as you will find out in a later chapter, Kaede is from Kobe, so it's reversed for her. Confusing? Good. All languages are.

11. I'm trying to figure out a way to show you guys what a Syukuchi looks like. It's basically a cross between a motorcycle, bicycle, and scooter. Very odd, I know.

12.That fish I was talking about… that I made up. However, the name is true to it's deciphering. I'll explain more in the next chappy on this fishy subject (hint hint).

13. Akuyu no yo na sushi means "Devilish Sushi", basically. In other words, sushi that is absolutely tasty and mouth watering, making you run after it as fast as you can. Many cooks and mothers have their own Akuyu no yo na sushi, and can get rather, um… _vicious_ about letting anyone else know their cooking secrets. Kagome is very lucky to have a mother that will let her know about her devilish food.


	5. Red Revenge

A/N - I believe the date for the next Inuyasha movie, Fire on Haori Island (they have to work on translation) to come out in America is halfway through August in 2006. Long wait. Oi. And Inuyasha creator Rumiko Takahashi is reportedly being thrown a large banquet with the ten year anniversary of her smash hit manga, which is currently on it's _43_ volume in Japan. Happy Anniversary and boy do we have a lot to catch up on. (No, the manga is not all in anime. That stopped somewhere around 36 I think… because it caught up with the manga for the fifth time, so it just ended. I don't know if it will get back going again or not, but if anyone else has noticed with the two more recent volumes everything seems frank and rushed, it was because Takahashi-sensei was trying to hurry to get the people something to work with)

* * *

_**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**_

_**Chapter Four**_

_**Red Revenge

* * *

**_

Hakodate, Japan

Wednesday, August 19, 4:51 PM

"EIAAAAAAA**AAAAAAAAAAAAAA_AAAAAAAAAAAA!"_** Kagome decided that holding in her fear was not going to work. She already had a rather… large fear of fast moving objects -especially when she was on top of one-, but this was ridiculous. Where did this Sango girl learn how to drive, school of the ill anger-management prone! It was like riding a runaway rocket on a highway full of rush hour traffic!

In other words, scary.

"DON'T YOU THINK WE COULD SLOW DOWN!"

"I DON'T WANT TO BE A CLOWN, I'M TRYING TO GET TO THE FISH MARKETS BEFORE THEY CLOSE!"

"HUH!"

"WHAT!"

Oh yeah, _this_ was helping.

Seeing as communication was out of the question, Kagome gripped onto her roommate's clothing as hard as she could, trying to avoid opening her eyes and the possibility of screaming again. The wind yanked at her hair, trying to pull her back and off the Syukuchi, which moved fast for being weighted down under about twenty tons of crap not too long ago, and onto the hood, or hoods, of whatever might be behind her now. It could have been a train for all she knew.

"YOU DON'T HAVE TO KILL US FOR SOME FISH, YOU KNOW! HAVEN'T YOU HEARD OF THE INTERNET!" Okay, so communication wasn't out of the question. Just out of the mind. And ear.

"ARE YOU NUTS? WE HAVE THE BEST FISH MARKETS IN THE WORLD!" Sango shot up with a straight back, her index finger pointed in the air in a scholarly way, hands officially off the steering bars. "IN HAKODATE, WE PEOPLES OF THE SEA AND SQUID, WE WILL NEVER COMMIT TO SUCH FRAUDS AS TO DENY ONE THE RIGHT OF A FULL, WONDERFUL-"

"**_SANGO! SEMI TWELVE O'CLOCK!_**"

With no less than a scream the girls moved out of the way of the oncoming truck, thus having to dodge away from the path of a rather randomly moving motorcycle. The man on it reared up in a wheelie to avoid them, instead running onto the top of a car in front of him and flipping over onto the hood. The car swerved out of control, from lack of tangible sight path, and turned sharply to the right, almost pinning the back of Kagome against the back of another massive truck. Sango revved up and zoomed out, leading the car to slam into the eighteen-wheel truck, carrying pressurized helium to fill up a nearby energy station, which promptly exploded.

As her shriek piercing through the air, Kagome huddled closer to her driver, who hopped her Syukuchi onto a nearby syu rail, and was now slowly loosing speed, both of them about twenty feet up in the air.

That scream sounded rather… high, didn't it?

"_Um, Sango, what- AHHH! MY VOICE! I SOUND LIKE A CHIPMUNK!"_

_Taking off her goggles and helmet (bugs hitting your face at 90 kilometers an hour really was not a pleasant thing to go through) sat up and cackled in a banshee, high pitched voice._

"_Well duh, that's what helium does! No exploding… technically. Just really high voices and people passing out every now and then from lack of oxygen."_

_"I'm know that, I'm not a baka."_

_"Or Aho."_

_"Hey! That's rather harsh- Wait, you said I wasn't…"_

_"You are an 'A-A-HO-O' from 'TO-O-KI-I-YO-O' if you can't even figure out what someone is trying to diss you by. Oh, voice back!"_

Kagome laughed… until she looked down at the rails they were coasting on, and then she screamed and clung back onto her partner. "AHHH! WE'RE REALLY HIGH UP!"

"Ugh,"This girl certainly liked to scream. Sango pried her friend off of her abdomen, which didn't work that well since Kagome clung back on again the moment she let go. She tried to squirm around and tug at Higurashi's arms, but they didn't budge, like how her eyes refused to stop being the size of dinner plates. She pulled again, and again, and kind of jumped up and down in her seat, but to no avail. That girl had a grip like iron. "Hey, would you let go please? Seriously, we're parking for Kami's sake!"

"No, we are NOT! Parking means being on solid ground and stopping something that is supposed to be _on_ the ground! How can we possibly park thirty feet up in the air!"

"Uh, like this." They were stopped, and as Kagome looked around, they were surrounded by other Syukuchi of a vast different color, all holding onto the syu rails and steel platforms set up underneath.

"Oh."

Sango jumped off her ride, chaining it up to the rusting bars at its front, and locking it with her padlock and key. "It takes while to get used the rush hour traffic on Kichigai avenue, but eventually you'll get used to it, especially if you go out on the trolleys everyday. Though," She paused for a moment, standing up and brushing the dust and debris from her clothes and scarf. "I'm still trying to get used to the syu rails myself. Things aren't usually as nuts as what we just went through."

After stepping on the wheel lock to keep it from falling over, Sango held out her arm, in the manner that an old English gentleman might have back when such people existed. She smiled gently, moving forward a bit to prompt some walking. " Come on, the markets will be closing down soon, then all of this will have been for nothing."

In other words, move it, slowpoke.

Hakodate Fish Markets

5:02 PM

Kagome frowned at her end of the list of ingredients to get. It wasn't particularly long, all together about five items. The only problem was she didn't have the slightest idea where to start, and since her guide decided to leave her alone in the glob of moving bodies and the smell of dying fish, she would have to figure out where on earth anything was in this place before the shops closed.

Swigging a look at her watch, she cringed. _Great, only a half hour…_

Kagome rolled the top of her turtleneck up and over her nose , begging to be spared the lovely aroma of fish carcass that would soon come upon her, and began to walk forward into crowds. There were people everywhere; talking to each other, purchasing squid, riding bicycles, just everywhere. More than once she got her feet stepped on, and almost knocked over each time she reached down to rub them. Everyone was in a hurry, trying to get to whatever which place in whatever which district that all sounded like there were saying names in Korean for all she knew. The crowded subway cars of Tokyo were nothing compared to this, a crunch of bodies just to get fish.

_Seriously!_ she thought, begging her pardon for the fifth time for running into someone who simply pushed her aside and kept going. _This is insane! Someone could loose an arm in here and no one would care!…_

She eyed a one armed man walking passed her and almost stopped moving at the irony but was shoved into motion by another passersby.

She was moving closer to some kind of stand, from what she could tell. The smell of squid and miso broth overwhelmed her turtleneck filter, and as she continued to move forward, the number of people in the ever-flowing tide of movement began to lessen. She couldn't quite tell why people were dissipating so fast, perhaps just because it wasn't on the mainstream, or because the food was bad at this stall, she didn't really know. But it didn't really matter at this point; where there were less people there was more oxygen, and her lungs were all but throwing hammers at her head to get more in.

Kagome threw herself at the opening, and within an instant she wound up on the ground, her legs and feet getting kicked to her by the mass of people she just left. She winced, leaning up to nurse her injured limbs only to have her head hit over top with a person passing with a basket in hand. "OW! Hey, that hurt!"

Nothing. The person was already gone. With a less than pleased look on her face, Kagome stood up, rubbing the whelp on her head, and glaring off in the distance. "Whatever happened to being courteous?"

"HEY, MOVE IT!"

She was at her wits end. Kagome turned to her right to mouth off at the person who just yelled at her, with every intent to use her large vocabulary. She wasn't a mean person. She really wasn't, and didn't enjoy mouthing off and usually tried to apologize for it later. But being annoyed, ignored, and irritated were some pet peeves of hers, likely to send a spark to the eruption of the Higurashi volcano. This volcano had already been exercised a good bit in just this past week, all of which at a certain hanyo, and it was getting tiresome. Before long she would have nothing left to erupt with, simply laughing at how many things were going wrong instead.

Which was why she all but screamed when she saw a series of big motorcycles coming down her way. Kagome once again threw herself, this time slamming into the stall and sticking there like plaster, with just enough time to keep herself from turning into mush. Her hair swirled by in the gusts of wind picked up by the motorists, flying in every last direction - some not thought possible - until it finally ceased, strands sticking out everywhere and herself overall looking like she was just spit out of a manufacturing plant.

"Fist time in the markets, eh?" The stall woman said, bending forward to see the rather startled girl in front of her. "Or feeling a little bit of last night's sake today?"

"First one." It was more of a croak than an answer.

"Well in that case, welcome of Hakodate, city of squid, lights, and all that jazz. Anyway, what do you want, or are you lost?"

"Eh…" Patting down her hair back into submission, Kagome peered at the now rather grungy list, turning it from one side to another trying to decipher that already difficult words. "Would you have… uh… ya-mi… yu… ki?"

"Yami yuki?" the woman made a strange face. "Dark snow?"

"Hm? Oh, no, no, no, no… uh… ku-ki… kuka?"

"I beg your pardon."

"Okay, not that one… erg… um…"

" Would you like me to take a look at it?" The stall clerk said placidly, quickly stirring her fish in a deep pot of broth. It was a completely different smell than Kagome had ever experienced, almost _tart,_ in a sense, but rich and flavorful, making it tempting to devour on the spot.

"Oh, um…"Taking one last look at the paper, she sighed slid it over across the counter. "If you don't mind."

It took the large woman, her hair tied back with a handkerchief and ladle in hand, only one second to decipher to oddly placed kanji structures. She bent back and laughed deep from her belly, right from her heart, and patted her stomach with one hand. "Well no wonder you couldn't read this, it's in the northern-ainu dialect! I guess a friend wrote this out for you, huh?"

Northern-Ainu dialect? What on earth was this woman talking about! "Uh, yeah…"

"Well, no worries, deary, you've come to the right place!" With no more than a moment Kagome found herself pushed to the side of this rather… effervescent woman, crunched to her jelly like side while her opposite arm held out the paper in front of the two of them. "This says _yuki-ika_, in normal respects, but here we call it Kuuki-kika, and I mean at this stall, not all of Hakodate. That'd be nice, but that's a little far on the wishful thinking."

"Oh… yuki-ika, that's just broiled squid right?"

A random chime sounded behind the clerk, sending her to let go of Kagome - who fell a good half meter to the ground - to attend to the alert. "Yep, and broiled squid would just happen to be my especial. You're gonna find a lot of people around here selling their squid all nice and right, but don't go judging each one just 'cause it's got the same fish in it. Each stall and restaurant here sells it's own special type, not some generalized, instant stuff you get in Tokyo, neh?"

"How'd you know I'm from Tokyo?"

The woman stirred her broth, sipped it, and continued stirring. "You're shirt, deary."

Kagome looked down at the cream colored clothing underneath her jacket, and indeed, placed there right in the middle in red were the words "Tokyo Girl". _Note: get Sango to take me shopping later._

The woman poured some of the broth into a small cask, and pushed it at Kagome. "Here, let me know if it's too tart or whatever. I'm almost at a break through in it's recipe. But either way, how much squid do you need?"

"Um…" Kagome stared at the numbers on the list, taking in hand the small container of the piping hot liquid. "I think 300 grams…"

"Well that's certainly a good bit of squid." As the woman began to get out her fish and weigh it out, Kagome took a deep whiff of the cooking liquid. It was still as tart yet mouth watering as before, and without a second thought, she took a first sip.

Good lord, she had never tasted anything that awful in her life. It certainly wasn't tart, or that mouth watering anymore, at least in the good way. It was as spicy as kimchee mixed with five star Mexican salsa, and was weighted down by some of the hardest cooking sake, or mirin, that would most certainly not be legal. And it was almost… no, not almost, it _was_ gritty, like there was sand, or some sort of ground rock in the stuff, not to mention the odd lump that just traveled down her throat.

She swallowed the stuff as fast as possible, almost gagging for air when a sudden sound came from within her stomach. It was a very odd one, only loud enough for herself to hear, but slowly up from her esophagus a warm and pleasant feel came about her, not so much as loosening as it was calming. Soon after a sweet after taste, like chocolate mixed together with south china candies, salivated into her mouth and tongue, settling and dissolving the original tastes down to nothing.

"Wow… this is really good! It's almost like chocolate and a normal sugar candy!"

"Don't push yourself, I know that's just the after taste." The woman chided in a nonchalant way, tying a small string around the bag of squid she was finishing up on. "That part is done, what I'm going for is to get it all that good, without adding more squid."

_More squid? Wasn't this meant to cook the squid **in? **_"Huh?"

The woman turned around, placing a hand on her hip and ladle to her lip. "Did you swallow a small lump in there?"

"Yeah…"

"Well take a look in that cask there to see what it was, why don'chya?"

Kagome peered into the cup, and all but shrieked afterward, making gagging sounds and gripping her neck. She fell down to the ground, and with the calm eyes of the clerk watching while drinking some coffee, she rolled around on the ground, trying to wipe the taint off of her tongue and memory.

There were squid eye balls in the broth.

Outside of the Fish Markets

5: 38 PM

Sango had convinced her roommate to eat out that night, since it was getting late to begin preparing dinner then at home. And so Kagome simply stared as their plates were served at the small, corner restaurant, eyes fixed on Sango's "favorite" dish; squid ramen. It was all she could do from having another spaz attack.

"What? Is there something wrong?" Sango said, looking up from her slurping spot above her bowl of noodles and liquid. "Does your food taste wacky?"

"What is _with_ you people and squid! If I didn't know any better I'd say you guys worship the bloody things!"

Kagome glanced out the window as a small shoulder shrine was paraded through the street, the massive depiction of a certain fish placed on top.

"I stand corrected."

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory, Hakodate University

6:21 PM

"That cover it?" Sango asked, stepping off her Syukuchi in a proper parking lot this time.

Once tugging at her helemt a few times before it popped off sending all of her hair out in a static mess, Kagome shook her head. "No. All you told me was a quick history of this city, and I'm really not getting where squid come into all of this."

"Ugh, you will some day, you city slicker." Sango stepped on the wheel lock before turning to her friend, sucking idly on her ika pop, or squid Popsicle. _Completely obsessed._

"But enough on that, what about this Inuyasha guy you were telling me about?"

Sango noted as her friend gained a rather strong stomp to her step as they opened up the front door and went inside to the warmth of electric heating. "He's a jerk. He's a lazy, self-absorbed, close-minded, little perv with the same amount of brain cells as his age."

"Oh, so we don't like him."

"No we don't."

Kagome swiped her card key into the slot of the dorm entrance door, which also led to the ever stupid steps. With a flustered huff, she began up the carpeted steps, fixing her eyes to some red stain on the ground.

"Well… you can hate him all you like, but I'll decide on that matter once I meet him. I wouldn't want to make a false assumption or something."

"Are you saying you don't trust what I'm saying?"

"No," Sango sighed, gathering herself as if she had repeated this matter a few too many times already in her life time. "All I'm saying is that we all have opinions, and I'm not going to just let someone else's cloud my own on something I don't even know about yet. Wouldn't that be against the laws of Buddha anyway, to hate without reason and to hate love?"

"You sound like my grandfather."

" But at dinner you said he was Shinto?"

"He is."fifth floor. Man, after going up and down these steps endlessly for a week, Kagome had really gotten in shape. Who knew what she might be able to do at the end of the school year. "That doesn't change the fact that he likes to read my and my brother doctrines of Buddhism. Or the history of something, whether it be true, false, or completely loco."

Kagome stopped on theseventh floor main step, and bent over in a hunch like an old man. "I can hear him now. "Each person is made of four souls, or shikon, passed down to our family through generation of the tale of Midoriko, the priestess. These souls are arami-tama, nigimi-tama, kushimi-tama, and sakimi-tama, and when in balance makes somethingy-tama."

"Oh, going into acting, are we?"

Bending back up and slinging the bag of ingredients over her shoulder, Kagome began up on her last flight of stairs. "Nope, I'm actually an art major. And come to think of it my first class is tomorrow with professor Naraku, if I'm not mistaken."

Sango came behind with a gasp, "Professor _Naraku_?"

"Uh, yeah. Is there something I should know about?"

"Well…" Sango stayed near her roommate as they walked through theeigth floor door. "He's just got a rep for being a wicked hard teacher, at least art department wise. I actually hear he once failed a kid because he forgot to sign his piece."

"How could he fail him if he didn't sign the paper?"

Ho. Now there was a good question. "Uh…"

"My point made." Kagome said proudly, getting out her key and unlocking their door. She must've turned it the wrong way, since she winded up locking it again. "Remember what you said about assumptions? And that you should decide on your own, not the choices of others?" She unlocked the door and walked in.

Red.

Red everywhere.

Both Sango and Kagome gaped as they looked around their room, where everything was now a very opaque shade of red. There was only one person who could have done _this_.

"**_INUYASHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

* * *

_**

A/N - Yay, I don't have to explain anything new! Well either way, I'm not sure I'll be able to make it to the Christmas chapter by Christmas, but I'll try. And as for next time, I have one word: retaliation.


	6. Halloween Boozer

-1A/N - I'm finally updating… I want our old computer to just blow up already. That's the only thing left for it to do when it comes to screwing up. Erg.

Inuyasha is now on it's 43 volume in Nihon (Japan), and there is still more… ho-ly crap.

* * *

_**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**_

_**Chapter Six**_

_**Halloween Boozer

* * *

**_

Hakodate, Japan

August 19, Dasunoshi building, Men's Dormitory

8:43 PM

Inuyasha whistled to himself, swinging two empty paint cans around his index finger and happily pacing down the hall to his dorm. _What a brilliant plan…_ he thought, turning the corner and blowing out another puff of cigarette smoke. _By keeping myself from loosing it, I'll simply make her go so extremely insane that she'll be begging to be transferred out by November! Mwehehe…_

As he continued to walk down the alley-like hallway, Inuyasha began to realize through the corners of his eyes that there was someone waiting at his dorm door. Great, the new roommate.

He strode down the rest of the way in a proud, no funny business, I'll-kick-your-ass-you-sissy-boy kind of matter before stopping at the man's feet, taking in another whiff of the death stick between his lips. The man looked to be about the same age as Inuyasha, dressed in a simple, royal violet button down shirt and dark jeans with no wear in them, opposing the mainstream men around the campus where the jeans were so worn through that they were almost see-through. And considering how cold it was, this fad was very self-sacrificial.

"Who are you and what are you doing' loitering outside my dorm?" he said in a brusque way, being sure to use every last bit of intimidation he had in his gut. He didn't have time for this. He should be celebrating this glorious victory of battle!

"My name is Miroku, and this happens to be my dorm too, idiot. A message was sent up to you to leave an extra key for me for the morning, but obviously that didn't get through." Miroku stood up, brushing the hitchhiking bits of the puke-colored carpet from his clothes. He gave a small, polite bow before beginning to pick up his bags and items, and…

_Whoa… _"Is that…?" Inuyasha pointed to the box behind the new roommie, staring in pure delight at the possibility. Could it be? Could that really be?…

"Oh yeah, big screen."

Inuyasha kicked down the door to his dorm, completely ignoring his keys, and all but threw the King of electronics in. Miroku stared at this man's, well, half man anyway, quick actions, practically ripping his old T.V. from the socket and scooting in the new one, fiddling with the wires afterwards. He slowly moved into the dorm, avoiding getting too close to the T.V. obsessed male, keeping to the walls and other furniture, inching along towards his bedroom.

"There, done!"

"Uh…" Miroku waved his hand. "Here's a question. What's your name, oh lord of the quick T.V. Installations?"

"I am Inuyasha, and it's Lord of the Red Paint tonight baby! Oh look, Baywatch!"

"Huh?"

"I'll explain later. Oh run, miss random American lady, run!"

_They set me up to live with this… this…_

Women's Laundry Mat

8:46 PM

"CRETIN, BASTARD, ANNOYING, POMPOUS…"

"Well," Sango began, dipping some more of her personal items into the little vat that was filled up with paint removal. After hearing their story, Rin came over to help the two out, bringing every last jug of paint removal she could find in the crew storage room. "I see you're back to using insulting words from the dictionary again."

" I liked the term 'shmergalactixate'." Rin, the ever effervescent, said.

"Me too. By the way, that's the sixth time you've said pompous."

Rin looked up from her work, her hair tied back, jeans rolled up, and jacket lain aside to avoid an untimely meeting with Lysol. "You know, I've wondered, exactly how do you use the word 'pompous'? I mean, it's just such a broad term, why does anyone use it?"

"BECAUSE IT SUMS THINGS UP!" Was her angry reply. Kagome stood up, knocking her head against a random rafter of the laundry mat ceiling (_Jeez, that's a low ceiling)_. "Ow… Pompous just means everything that could be insulting wrapped up into one, simple little package that I only wish I could light a fuse to and duct tape it that guy's head!" She started pacing around and around again in a fury, kicking random buckets of interesting smelling solutions out of her way. "Oohh… I'm going to kill him! I really don't hate anyone, but this guy is really pushin' it!"

Sango rolled her eyes and proceded to blow dry her computer. "Well, there's not a whole lot you can do about it, so just help us out here, eh? I'm sure he had a good… er…" Okay, perhaps that sentence wasn't the best to start right now. "…reason… for it."

Rin scoffed. "Oh yeah, like he's a red-a-maniac and just _needed_ to see red or something."

"Oh, he's gonna be seeing red alright." Kagome fumed, wringing out some of the foodstuffs that were most likely going to be thrown out soon anyway. "Or black and blue, anyway…"

"Feeling a bit vengeful, are we?" Rin chimed in. Big mistake.

"YEAH, YOU COULD SAY THAT! LOOK AT WHAT WE ARE DOING; CLEANING RED PAINT OFF OF ALL OF OUR STUFF BECAUSE ONE GUY DOESN'T LIKE ME FOR SOME REALLY STUPID REASON I DON'T KNOW!"

Dasunoshi building, Men's Dormitory 

8: 51 PM

"YOU DID WHAT!" Miroku all but yelled, almost spitting his root beer into the boiling ramen on the portable range.

"You heard me, I dumped a ton of red paint in their room." Inuyasha said with a smirk, taking a swing of his drink before returning his gaze to the T.V. "She deserved it anyway, annoying me so much over the past week…"

"So tell me," Miroku prodded at the ramen Inuyasha had provided from his personal stash. "Whoa, this stuff's alive."

"Huh?"

"No, not that. Tell me, are you proud of this little 'battle'" Miroku even made the quotation gesture with his fingers. " that you say you've won?"

"Oh yeah," Inuyasha replied. He took in a deep breath of air, scratching the back of his head with some manga book of Miroku's. " I got her good. It should be a good start for her upcoming date with insanity."

Miroku shook his head, whipping out his chopsticks to poke at the ramen pack of noodles, which were moving on their own , no longer in the boiling water. _I don't think I should eat this…_ "Do you know what my major is, Inuyasha?"

"No, why?"

"My major is the study of military tactics. Strictly for historical and psychological purposes only, I assure you. I'm not very fond of any army."

"Okay, and your point is?"

"My point is that no matter where you are or what reason or anything, if you start a battle, you start a war. I have a feeling that you had better be watching your back for a while for some sort of counter attack."

Women's Laundry Mat

8:56 PM

"So then, if you're so upset, what do you plan to do, soak him in the paint remover vat?" Rin chided, stirring clothes around with a long stick she found outside. "Ew, this thing is spewing sap on me…"

"No, I'm going to do better than that!" Kagome slammed her fist into her opened palm, an intense fire burning in her eyes.

"Oh boy," Sango stood up fully and walked over to her friend. "Somehow I think you're having a Lucy Ricardo moment."

"Shut up Ethel, er, Sango."

Rin walked over and stood next to Sango, both turning their heads in either direction, following the once again pacing Kagome back and forth. She was mumbling to herself, hands over mouth, and after a good twenty paces the girl suddenly broke out into a mad cackle that could have sent banshees to hiding under the bed. Rin settled for launching onto Sango, who had the same idea. Thus, they both went down.

"Ow…"

"That was a _reeeeeeeeeeeally_ creepy laugh…"

" I HAVE IT! I HATE IT!" Kagome started jumping/dancing around to some weird made up tune in her mind that was most likely the product of too much caffeine in her system finally catching up to her. She started to sing it in a childish, nagging sort of way. " I got it, I got it, I got ze idea. I got it, I got it, I got ze idea!"

"Vat is zis idea, freuline?" Rin added in the German accent for fun as she picked herself off the floor. "Knock him in zi head vivth apple struddle?"

"Or Ricky's maracas?…" Sango added in afterwards.

Kagome whirled around to look at them, her eyes glowing with a fire of rage and determination rivaling that of a volcano. With a sudden crash of lightning outside, she cackled again before telling her ingeniously evil plan to her hench-women, running out into the night laughing like decapitated octupi until they realized it was raining sold ice and then bolted back to the dormitory.

September 5

Hakodate Museum of Aquatic Life

1:31 PM

"And this," the tour guide continued, " Is the tropical fish tank, where the Hakodate aquarium holds it's fish of tropic and subtropical origins, spanning from the ever famous angel fish to the little known Neon gourami."

Kagome watched the small class of elementary kids pressing their faces against the glass, making faces, banging on it, or screaming orders at the fish to do a trick. Sighing, she gazed over at the tour guide, who was from the Hakodate club, and gave a sympathetic smile. The woman nodded her head in agreement before turning her attention back to the youngling's, one of which was starting to write words on the glass with a permanent marker.

She was glad her group had already gone through all of the fish watching part and were now in the play-pen area. Kagome loved children, but there was a difference between children and imps. And she got the imps.

Sango walked over and sat down on a stool, liking a Popsicle from the concession stand. "You'd think that they would have at least a little more of a brain in there…"

"Who; the kids or the Hakodate Club Leaders?"

"Both." Sango sighed, dragging up another stool from behind her to let her friend sit down. "So… how's your 'Operation P.' going, eh? Y'know, getting back at Inuyasha?"

"Pretty good, actually." She replied, leaning forward and weighing her elbows on her knees. "All I'm waiting for is our little doggy to show up so I can sock it to 'im."

After a small chuckle, Sango gulped down the rest of her Popsicle and got up to keep her little group of kids from trying to swallow an anemone. "Hey, hey, what do you guys think you're doing!"

"We're hungry." a little boy with short hair answered. " We want lunchies, so we getting our lunchy."

"But this is not lunchy," she snapped back, pulling the flailing coral from their hands and back into the water tank. It was a reach up and touch kind, where children and adults were allowed to stretch out their hands and feel manta rays and such. "This is an aneme- anem- anemone. I already told all of you that you get lunch in an hour or so five minutes ago!"

To this little boy, who seemed to be the ring leader, this was not acceptable. "I WANT LUNCHY! I WANT LUNCHY! I WANT LUNCHY!"

Soon the entire little group was a mass, hysteric, chorus of crying for lunch, gaining the attention and stares of passersby. The little boy was rolling on the ground, crying crocodile tears all over, and flailing to attempt and hit his overseer.

Sango rolled her eyes and stepped over the boy, through the protection fence, and sat back down next to Kagome, pressing her arms angrily against her chest. The boy wailed and wailed more and more, but slowly the other children got over it and went back to their playing. They had realized that making a scene wasn't going to send this veteran baby-sitter to tears.

Walking back over to the now alone boy, still crying his eyes out, Sango bent over at her waist and peered at him. "Where's your power now, oh dear Nobunaga?"

" **_I - I WANT LUNCHY! I WANT MY LUNCHY!_**"

Sango smiled at herself, proud of this little imp's loss of power. What a great general she'd make. "Why?"

Without having a second to think properly about a reasonable response, the boy screamed out, "**_CAUSE I WAN' IT! WHY DON'T YOU DO WHAT I TELL YOU!_**"

"Well, cause I'm older than you, smarter than you, wiser, cooler, nicer, stronger, and have absolutely no problem drop kicking you to Sapporo if you don't shut up. So, now you get to have a nice little time out, and delay getting your lunchy for a whole nother five minutes." As the boy began to scream and flail again, Sango prepared some Velcro and stuck the child onto her back-pack, carrying him with her out of the play-pen area, sitting back down next to the laughing Kagome.

"Well, aren't you Miss Evil-Care-taker?"

"Not in the least." Sango said, listening quite contently as the child on her back began to start to just sniffle and mumble intangibly. "I've been baby-sitting my little brother for all of my life, and I know what to do to get a kid to shut up." She pointed to her back with her thumb. "Observe."

Kagome turned around and look at the child, all tuckered out from his mass hysteria that he was out cold like a log. She was about to comment, but a certain something caught her eye. "Uh, Sango…"

"Uh huh?"

"It is time to commence Operation P." Kagome hopped off the stool and rolled up her sleeves to her elbows.

Sango turned around to see a certain white haired hanyo walking in their general direction before grinning maliciously. "Yes, Lucy, time to kick Ricky's butt." She hurried back over to the play pen and set the sleeping boy back down on the ground (several mothers nearby by asked "How did she do that?"), then spinning around and walking up by her friend. "You sure this is going to work?"

"Positive," Kagome gripped her hand into a fist. "Every man is a pervert at this age, so he's as good as dead already."

"Alright…" Sango handed her friend a towel from her back pack, following suit for herself. They turned sharply, and began timing Inuyasha's steps, waiting for the right moment to go out…

The two stepped out, walking approximately half a meter in front of their target, making sure to make their recently placed flip-flops snap each time they hit the hard floor. "Sango, can you believe it!" Kagome began, making sure to speak loud enough for Inuyasha to hear. "The aquarium actually got a hot spring! I mean, I know it seems a bit like overkill for commercialism, but-"

"Who cares!" her friend squeaked. "Let's go on up right now! I just can't wait to get in!"

As fast as she could, Kagome snapped a quick peek at Inuyasha's face as she bent down to adjust her sandal. Oh yeah, they had his attention. "Okay, I'm going, I'm going Sango!"

The two hurried off towards a hallway of stairs, soon after being followed by a certain hanyo with black mail on his mind _Heh heh heh, good thing I brought my camera today… this'll be my second victory if I have anything to say about it…_

He stopped behind two doors with little round windows at the tops. The hallway was so dark that the contrast between the light windows and his placement would make no picture good. No, he'd have to go inside… where there were… two… naked… women…

If only he'd brought Miroku to this.

Inuyasha readied his camera and looked into one of the windows again, suddenly watching his all time nemesis taking off her shirt. Through the crack of the door, he heard little giggles from the girls. "Oh, it's so warm…"

That did it, he had to get in there. Inuyasha opened the door to find both women fully dressed, standing there in front of a pool with a malicious grin on their faces. "NOW RIN!"

Inuyasha suddenly felt a huge shove from behind, and before he knew how to react, he found himself face first into the pool of water… with… fish?

_Wait a second…_ it struck him like a two ton anvil, but it was a little too late. Reaching the surface he found the laughing faces of Kague or whatever and two other girls. Apparently, the one in the full black, ninja attire was Rin, the one who pushed him into this place.

"Well, Inuyasha," Koguma spat. "So nice of you to drop in on us! Red really does suit you, you know, with all of those perfectly wonderful crimson Piranha bite marks all over…" He was about to curse her out, except he felt a bite in a place that no man liked. He gave a shiver and tried his best from yelping. _…Owie…_

"See ya on the flip side!" The three witches from hell cackled as they walked out the two doors, leaving Inuyasha alone to try and get out of this pool of demonic little goldfish.

September 24

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

5:15 PM

Laughing, Kagome walked into her dorm room, already filled with Sango working on an essay, Rin watching T.V., and one of Rin's new friends who was also glued to the Tube. "You guys, Inuyasha has finally healed over from all of those widdle fish bites we gave him a while back. And…" She reached inside her carrying bag and whipped out a small paper packet. "I have the pictures from the aquarium and everything! Ooh, this'll send Yuka howling…" As everyone got up and started to look at the pictures, Kagome stared at this unfamiliar woman in her room. "Uh… I'm not trying to be rude or anything, but… who are you?"

The college girl turned around to face her. "Hm?… oh, sorry, I'm Notora, Ayame Notora. Pleased to meet you…?"

"Higurashi Kagome. Pleased to meet you…" They bowed to each other politely, until Kagome suddenly had an epiphany. Ayame, Ayame… where had she heard that name before? It seemed so familiar… and for some reason that guy Koga's face kept popping up in her head. _Uh… Oh, whatever, I'll figure it out eventually_. "So what do you guys think? Of the pictures, I mean."

Rin and Sango were giggling to themselves as the panned through the photos, and Ayame looked on with wondering eyes. "What is this all about?"

"Oh, that's right, you don't know…" Kagome wandered over to her bed, kicking over some of the mountainous pile of blankets for the cold nights. "The guy in there with the bights is Inuyasha, a junior who is paired up with me in the Hakodate club, and is the son of Hell."

Sango and her friend walked over and sat down at her desk to get a good look at the pictures under her lamp. "Basically, we hate the guy."

"Okay…" Ayame nodded uncertainly. "That doesn't't explain what's with the Piranha stuff."

"Well, he dumped a ton of red paint in here for some reason, so this was their revenge." Rin said before suddenly gasping and giggling at one picture. She pointed something out to Sango, who then looked closer at the photograph. After a moment she blushed the color of blood and put her hands to her cheeks.

"What are you two so giddy about?" Kagome got up, Ayame following, and taking a peek over their shoulders to look at this incriminating piece of glossy paper.

"Well, take a look in the water for this picture." Rin laughed out, pointing down near the bottom. Kagome suddenly gasped at the horror. This was bad. Any guy who would have _that_ happen wasn't going to let it go down easily. This was bad, bad, bad, bad, bad.

Ayame looked over at it and put her hand to her mouth. "…Ouch, **that** had to hurt…"

"Oh, that's only part of it," Rin said, desperately trying to keep herself under control. Sango was just averting the picture all together. "Take a look at the actual biting place, Aya…"

Kagome, no longer looking at the picture, instead watched Ayame's face as it suddenly turned bright red. "Holy crap, it's huge!."

This sent Rin falling out her seat laughing, Sango falling out of her seat from shame, Ayame into a massive nose bleed, and Kagome's face to the exact color of roses.

Ayame placed a tissue to her nose while placing the picture down on the desk. "I mean… really, really huge… I don't have any point of reference, but… whoa…"

Kagome turned away, holding her hands to her face and blushing madly. This wasn't fair. She should be feeling joyous and victorious, not shameful and guilty! She banged her head against the microwave, which after the fourth strike, she stopped, and pressed her forehead to it. _What in the?…_

She looked at it with a bewildered face. Slowly her hand reached around the handle and yanked the door open. For a split second, on the back wall she saw, scratched in with claws, the word, "Bitch!"

And then it exploded.

In a big fireball.

And now Kagome no longer felt so guilty or shameful. Oh no. She was back to revenge, as Darth Lucy with a score to settle with Jedi Ricardo.

October 9

Dasunoshi Building, Men's Dormitory

3:34 PM

Inuyasha sat comfortably in his couch, watching some random show on some random channel of this Big Screen T.V. Ah, the bliss of it. The wonderful bliss of Sony. Of 150 stations. Unfortunately none of the good shows came on till after nine so he was stuck watching some documentary on geese. Of all of the possible days to have no classes, it just had to be today; where every five minutes there were commercials for sponsoring the channel for 'future programs like this' and all that jazz. Only one didn't have it on, so he had the T.V. turned to the local, public, tax paid station.

Though it wasn't too bad since Miroku did have classes today. He could do whatever he wanted for the next few hours or so, and then spend that last half hour trying to undo it all.

_Well, if he isn't here…_ he thought, standing up and stretching from his long stay on the couch. _He won't mind my snooping around a bit to see what all he's got in that room of his._

Inuyasha quickly locked the front door, just for safety, and hurried into his roommate's room. The guy actually wasn't too bad to be around, considering the possibilities of who he could be stuck with and all. He would never openly admit it but the hanyo was slowly befriending the dark haired man. _But that logic of his… ARGH, does that get tedious._ Inuyasha also had discovered that Miroku could usually see right through all of his plans and ploys to see a. the flaws, or b. what they were really about. That was a little scary, but nothing too serious.

He quietly opened the door, looking up and down for any traps or cameras or things of the like. Nope all clear.

The room was rather clean for a man's standpoint. The only real mess was the little flurry of books and papers on his desk, next to where is lap top usually was. He had taken the computer with him today, needing to take notes for some class apparently. Inuyasha growled._ Guess I wont be finding out what's in **that** thing till later…_

On the front door there was suddenly a thunderous pounding, sending Inuyasha almost to the point of death by shock as he shot up like an electrified rocket. He clung to the top of the door frame, eyes the size of basketballs as another round massive fury of pounding rammed against the dorm door, followed by a shout, "Delivery for a Taisho Inuyasha!"

Thank kami there was no one else in the building right now. His stature was more than just shaken; he felt like he had just gone through the tumble dry cycle of one of the laundry mat's dryers. Inuyasha clambered down from his jumping point and tried to calm his nerves, listening to the delivery person slam their fist against the wooden frame once more. "ALRIGHT, alright, I'm coming, I'm coming!"

He opened the door to find a red-headed woman standing there, her hair pulled back in a ponytail, face turned down and hidden by a mulish, green delivery service hat, clad in the same colored uniform and dark boots. In her left hand there was a simple, computerized clipboard that she held out to him. "You Inuyasha Taisho?"

"Yeah…" He was beginning to think that maybe appearing in just his boxers and an A shirt was a bad idea. "I sign here?"

She nodded. He took the small board, signed and handed it back to her. "Um, the package?"

"Oh right." the girl picked up the cardboard box at her side and handed it to him as best as she could. "Here's your package."

Before he had a chance to even step back, she gasped at her remark and ran away blushing, as far as he could tell. Inuyasha watched her dash off down the hallway and turn the corner before going back inside. "What was that all about?…"

- -

Ayame slammed up against the side of the elevator gasping, shriveling down to the floor as the door closed. She took off her hat and threw the small tablet down by her side, reaching into her pocket to a walky-talky. "I delivered his package. Oh crap, I did it again!"

Rin's voice crackled back over the other end. "What are you talking about, over?"

"Simple," Ayame continued, brushing her fingers through her hair. "The whole time I couldn't get that one picture out of my mind, and he opened the door in his underwear!"

"Pervert."

"Yeah, well, He asked for the… um… box, and I handed it him, but it was obviously real heavy."

"Duh, considering what all we filled it with. They didn't act up, did they?"

"Only on the ride over here. Anyway, I said' Here is your package,' and I inadvertently looked down and…"

"Looked at his package?"

"Yeah, only not the cardboard one."

"Okay," Rin was having fun traumatizing her friend. "And… details, girl, details!"

"And I don't think he knows it but… his boxers… are… missing a good many buttons."

Rin hit the respond button just in time for her mad laughter to filter through. "I - laugh- can't believe it! You actually saw his… his…"

"His _his_."

"And? Same as earlier, details, girl, details!"

Ayame gulped and unzipped the jacket of her uniform, pulling at her t-shirt to let the excess heat out. "Do I have to?"

"Ayame, we are all desperate college girls who have never seen _that_ before in our lives except for maybe a time or two when you little brothers were three years old. So gimme details or I'll force you to draw it later."

Drawing… _it_ was about the last thing Ayame felt like doing right now. At the moment she felt more like jumping into the local lake, with it's ice chunks and all.

"**_Big_**."

"Very descriptive. Anything else, as in reference?"

"Oh shut up, I'll tell you all when I get back! Let's just hope he doesn't't figure out what's in that box until-"

"**_IYEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"_**

"Oh, I think he's opened it."

- -

Inuyasha was pinned up against the door, staring at his dorm room, and the about gazillion frogs and toads jumping around it. Not to mention the fact that he had already stepped on one, the place was quickly becoming a massive wreck of green and brown.

Down from the ceiling a small piece of paper flew down into the hanyo's hand, and his eyes still as large as dinner plates, he read it aloud. "From Kichinkyo with love, Kagome Higurashi. P.S. - We hope you like our widdle friends!"

There was only one problem with this arrangement. Inuyasha, the big, rough and tough hanyo who was infamously known throughout the city, had but few weakness. One of which was frogs. He had a direct phobia of them, and at this very moment was close to either bolting out his room screaming like a little girl or jumping out the window.

He closed his eyes and tried to calm down. _Breath… b-breath…. Inhale… oh, I'm going to kill you Kagome!… inhale… exhale… inhale… exhale…_

October 21

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

11:35 PM

"Would you cut it out! I'm not going to draw it!" Ayame snapped from within her sleeping bag, throwing an M&M at her lecherous friend's head.

"Oh come on, Aya."

"Don't you Aya me, Rin."

Kagome looked up at the resident of the upper bunk, turned over so to hide her face in her pillow. "Sango, you breathing in there?"

She nodded.

"You want some ice water?"

"Shraish sheeme"

"Eh?" What the heck what that? Kagome Higurashi loved to learn about other cultures and languages, but pillow talk was one she never studied.

Sango whipped her head up from her pillow. "I said Ice Cream."

"Sango…" Kagome look down at her pillow, then her face. "Are you having a nose bleed?"

"NO!" Without another word, Sango slammed herself into her pillowcase again.

"Oh, Sango, and you called me a pervert earlier, too!" Rin called up, ducking another M&M being chucked at her head.

"Well you are!" Ayame declared, standing up and turning off the T.V. "Seriously, I thought that, as roommates, you would leave this matter in our dorm room. But noooooooooo… you just _have_ to keep bringing it up! Kind of like how you never let Sango go about Miroku!"

Ayame was then hit right in the back of the head with a bloody pillow. "YOU SHUT UP! I said I thought he had cute butt once, ONCE! And then he decided to go and feel mine, and… OH, I can definitely see why he was paired up in a dorm with Inuyasha."

Kagome looked up at her friend from her spot, sitting on her desk in her light nightgown, kicking her legs back and forth. "Hey, I didn't know this! Why didn't you tell me, Sango!"

"Simple!" She responded, wiping her nose on her night shirt sleeve. "You are more like that Lucy Ricardo than you know! If I told you, you'd go out and try to hook me up on some crazy romantic date that would turn out being like crap in the end because of all of these loose ends in your snooping and then fully screw me over! You just _have_ to butt in! Butt out, would you!"

"Hey, I'm not like that!" was her friend's rebuttal. The remaining women in the little dorm room stared at her with annoyed eyes.

Kagome started to feel like she was being ganged up on. "Uh… I'm not that bad?…"

No response.

"Okay fine, you win, I snoop. I, little Mrs. Ricky Ricardo of New York City, just have to know everything. But then what are you, dear miss Sango Mertz? You can't keep a secret to save your soul!"

"I can too!"

Ayame and Rin scoffed at that. "Yeah, like how about you couldn't keep it within you to even think that Miroku has a cute butt. Oh yeah, you can keep a secret."

"You all shut up! And who are you to talk Ayame! You're brain is off in la-la-land so much that you can't even focus on staring one guy in the eye while you were delivering a package!"

"So I accidentally stared at his package, give me a- Oh crap, I did it again!" She thwacked herself in the head with the pillow previously thrown at her.

"Which brings us back to the ever wanted question…" Rin scooted closer to her art major friend with a pad and a pencil. "Draw or details? Your pick."

"Like hell I'm drawing it."

"Then details-"

"Big."

"You didn't let me finish. Details with a reference point."

Ayame looked over at her fellow art major, who shook her head in sympathy, "She's never gonna let it go until you tell her, Aya." Kagome said, closing her eyes in despair. "Might as well throw her a bone on this one."

Ayame growled in frustration before getting out of her sleeping bag and heading over to Kagome's desk. She started to flip through different text books and sheets of paper, drawing the bewilderment of her fellow females as to what the hell she was doing. She briskly turned around and started flipping through one of the textbook's pages.

"Um ,dear, that's my calculus book." Kagome said, scooting over to her friend as the others did as well.

"I know that. I'm just looking for a point of reference." Ayame made sure to spit that last word at Rin. She flipped to one specific page, and turned it around to show them all. "Kagome, you may recall how I recently borrowed this book to study from. And, as we have all pointed out, I like to daydream and doodle. So," She flipped the page. "This doodle length. Width is on page 586."

Sango immediately got another nose bleed and flew back under her covers. "Whoa…" Rin was all but flabbergasted. "That _is…_ **_BIG_**…"

Ayame sighed, shut the book, and flopped it back on Kagome's desk. "Would you guys just drop it now?"

Rin was looking up into space, thinking about the size. Immediately after that thought she bounced up and began flipping through the book for page 586. "Ayame, it is now your personal task to get me a picture, whether it be drawn, painted, or photographed, of … _it._"

"HELL NO! I THOUGHT YOU'D BE SATISFIED!"

Kagome rolled her eyes. "You'd think so, wouldn't you."

Ayame stalked over to Rin's side, kicking some little gizmo on the ground out of the way. "Rin, I am never, ever, for the life of me, going to-"

"I'll give you 100,000 yen and probably a lot more from all of the girls in the dorms."

"Deny my need for money." Ayame finished. "How much for what; photo, drawing, painting, wood etching, sculptur-, no, not sculpture."

"Just make a series and then set it up somewhere; I can only imagine how much…" Rin trailed off as a small humming noise slowly began to fill the room. All eyes suddenly turned over to the small gizmo Ayame had kicked out of the way, discovering it was actually a walky-talky with duct tape over the power button.

In less than blinking moment, the sounds of the bullet train rocketed into the dormitory, shattering every window for two levels, and sending all four of the girls flying into the back wall. In a moment, the earthquake of sound was gone, but the effects were far to be over, as Sango, Kagome, Rin and Ayame started wandering around in a daze as their senses slowly began to come back to them.

When she was able to, Kagome's first words were, "… Inuyasha…Kill…"

October 31

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

6:27 PM

"Hey Lucy," Sango asked over her shoulder, buttoning up her clothes as fast as she could. "What is it that you're going to this Halloween party as?"

"I thought I told you to stop calling me that, _Ethel_." She retorted in an angry manner. "I'm going as a lawyer."

"Ah, the greatest fear of us all."

"Well, the worse part is that I haven't figured out a way to get back at Ricky-, uh, Inuyasha."

"This Party should give a ton of possibilities though." Sango said as she pulled on another one of her sleeves to her outfit. "I mean, any party gives you a ton of possibilities."

"Oh ho ho, no its doesn't." Kagome adjusted her hair into the tight bun of lawyers, sticking in two hair chopsticks. "This party is being held by the Hakodate Club Head members. This thing will be locked tighter than a champagne bottle."

Sango turned around and looked at her friend through the mirror."Say, that's a great idea!"

"What's a great idea?"

"The champagne! You could spike his drink with liquor or something!"

"Hey, your right," Kagome said, slamming her fist into her open palm, almost sending her hair into an explosion from too much tension with the bun. "I bet that if I could spike his drink enough, I might be able to get him drunk! No wait, a drink is too direct, he'd be suspicious…" She thought for a moment before raising her finger up in the air. "I've got it. I'll spike a keg of punch, and then introduce a bobbing for apples game, but I'll poke a hole in each apple to let it soak in the liquor and so I can weigh them down or something. Then, when he's nice and drunk, I can take him back to his apartment, and I can get that nice little picture for our dear friend Rin!"

Sango stopped getting together altogether and stared at her friend in the eye. "You really are Lucy Ricardo reincarnated."

"Oh shut up."

Hakodate Crew Party Lounge

7:12 PM

Kagome and her entourage walked into the party lounge, a mass of different costumes, colors, sounds, and interesting sounds. At the very back, propped up against a wall, stood several of the top Hakodate Crew leaders, some talking with each other, others with other, lower members.

"So, Koga, what exactly-" the man stopped talking as his conversing partner suddenly spit his drink back into his glass."… is the problem?"

"Simple," he pointed over to the front door, as Kagome, Sango, Ayame, and Rin adjusted their costumes and began to mingle. "Ayame is over there, and so is my little eye-bon-bon, Kagome Higurashi!"

"Hmm?" The man, named Hojo, turned around, and was suddenly entranced. This woman, Kagome… surely she must have been sent from Buddha and heaven! She was too beautiful to be any normal woman! Her gentle smile, her lovely curves , the sparkle of her eye in the gentle light of the moon this October night, it was all to that of an angel. She radiated the pure essence of Autumn glory and luster, kindness and magnificence, that she engulfed him into a world of perfection and wonder, a Heiankyo of just him and her…

Koga was oblivious to this sudden development. "Oh man, what am I going to do, what am I going to do…!"

"Maybe," Came Miroku's voice nearby, taking a sip of his punch. "If you weren't such a player this little problem wouldn't have happened? Adultery is one of the 108 sins, you know."

"Who are you to talk, you lecherous…" Koga stared at the man's attire, and almost laughed at the costume's impossibility. "… Monk. Yeah, like that would happen."

"I don't commit adultery, though. I might be a pervert, but I'm no player. Besides, who is without their flaws?"

"Shut up, Buddha."

"You started it, playa."

"Let's see," Kagome started searching around for Inuyasha as Rin headed off to try and round up some punch for her apples. They had been lucky that she had come as the witch from Snow White. "Where is my little, white haired furball who is about to be neutered?"

Sango scanned the horizon for their target, but soon found another problem. "Oh crap. Hide me!"

Without second notice the woman jumped behind Kagome and peered over her shoulder. "Sango, what's going on?"

"Simple, Miroku is over there!"

"What, scared he might see because of a little crush?"

"No, scared he might see me because of a possible crush on my butt."

Kagome scoffed before double stepping her and pushing Sango out in front of her. "Look, I don't have time for this. I have bigger fish to fry. Besides, if he tries anything than you can slap him."

Sango watched her friend walk off into the crowd with despair. "Kagome? Kagome! Kagome, don't leave me here!"

"My, my, we meet again…" Sango froze stiff as she felt five very warm fingers on her rump. "And how are we this night, my dear?"

Sango, the daughter of a martial artist master, the logical child care taker, the incarnate of Ethel Mertz, did the only thing her body, after all of those years of training, could muster at that very moment. **_"FINE, YOU PERVERT!"_**

There was thunderous crack that silenced the few around them, from Sango's hand to Miroku's cheek. A normal man would most likely have been knocked over from her strength, but he simply stood there with her hand on his cheek, a dumbfounded look on his face. He blinked, taking hold of her wrist, and quite literally peeling her hand off his face to reveal a bright red hand print there, small traces of blood coming from where her nails landed. "Sango, my dear," he said, face unwavering in expression. "You wound me."

"Gee, I wonder why." Miroku kept his hand to his cheek, and slowly turned around and started walking back.

"Hey," Ayame came up behind him and dragging her friend off before anymore throws were made. "You were right, he does have a cute butt."

At hearing this, Miroku whirled around and watched as Sango covered her blushing face with her hand, using the other to hit her friend as they made their mad get-away.

Miroku stood there for another moment, rubbing his abused cheek. He made a slight, boyish grin before walking back to the food stand for some ice.

- -

"There, that should do it," Rin said, stirring her mixture of sake and fruit punch in a large cauldron. "I'll get your picture, my pretty, you little dog you." Kagome stared as her friend, dressed as a witch, cackled like nothing else she had ever heard in a Disney movie. That evil laugh was rated R.

"Rin, you scare me sometimes."

"Good. I like having intimidation powers of persuasion."

"Try saying that ten times fast," She retorted, wheeling the big, black bucket out from behind the curtains. "Now tell me Rin, what type of a picture would you like?"

"I don't care, as long as you and Ayame and make art from the pictures and memory. I can just think of all the yen that'll bring in from the girl's dorms." The evil witch started helping her friend push the oversized pail out into the main party area, raising a little attention from the people around them.

Inuyasha, dressed in his costume of European, Militaristic, Royalty sat in a corner of the room, spinning the liquid in his plastic glass around in circles. _Where is Kikyo? I thought she'd at least meet me here, after not showing her face since last semester. Did something happen…?_

He looked over in the direction of the most commotion in the party, and for a moment, he thought he saw her, pushing a cauldron of punch and apples towards the center of the lounge. But it wasn't. It was that Kagome, blowing a small whiff of hair out of her eyes and to the side of her forehead. And the more he stared at her, the more he noted the differences, the life and vigor in her eyes as opposed to the cold and resentment of Kikyo's.

She stood up, and took off her black, lawyer-like jacket, shaking one arm out of the sleeve and then the next. Did he really hate her? Did he really hate someone who was so pretty in all three ways like her? As he watched, unaware of his drink slowly spilling onto the floor, she yanked out the two chopsticks keeping her hair up in such a tight bun that it could have exploded from too much tension. Her raven locks spilled out over her shoulders, and she slowly shook her head from side to side to get it all free and back it's natural form. Or at least it seemed to be slow to him.

And then she continued to push the massive cauldron to it's spot. Miroku stood there, tilting his head at his friend's face, whose mouth was slightly slack from a lack of a jaw being fully there. He bent down at the waist and tapped Inuyasha on the shoulder. "Hey, Napoleon."

"Hmm, what?"

"And you claim to hate her…" Miroku rolled his eyes and stood back up properly.

"I-I do hate her! I hate her rotten, little gut from the inside out. Doesn't mean I don't think she's pr- uh, hot."

"Yeah, and Koga has one girlfriend." Miroku sat down and leaned back against the wall. "Ya'know, Inuyasha, the line between Love and Hate is very, very fine. And the two emotions are exactly the same, only one is positive, the other negative. So why don't you break the act and admit that she gives you butterflies, neh?"

"You shut up, you lecher!" Inuyasha jumped to his feet, dumping the rest of his drink on the floor. "I'm at war with her! I want her out of this school!"

"Sure you do." Miroku chuckled, taking another swig of his drink. "Well then, if you are at war with her, why don't you go beat her at her own game?"

"Huh?"

"I mean they're putting up some sort of bobbing for apples game or something over there. Considering this wasn't a planned part of the party, it must be a ploy to rig you in and make a fool of you. So why don't you go and beat her?…"

"Yeah, I'll go do that right now!" He said in a courageous way before stalking off towards the frontline of fire.

"Considering…" Miroku continued to himself. "That I can smell the smell of sake all the way from here, while your nose got accustomed to it a good while back, dog-boy."

At that moment, two women walked by in little French maid outfits. Miroku quickly gulped down the last of his punch before standing up. "Hello, ladies."

- -

"So the prize of winning is bragging rights?" Someone randomly asked Kagome and Rin.

"Yep, that's right. So, who would like to have a go at this first?" Kagome asked, getting the smiling nods of her three friends. Hopefully this plan would work, and by the end of the night, the pictures of _it_ and maybe more would be pasted onto the internet. Oh, the sweet smell of revenge.

"I'll go first." Came an angry reply from a certain white haired college boy, who walked right up to the cauldron and unzipped the top of his outfit and dropping it without second thought next to him.

"Oh no," Ayame turned around. "It's the same A shirt and everything…!"

Inuyasha slipped his hair back into a ponytail, stepped up to the massive pail of sake and punch, and dove in at the apples.

Kagome watched, snickering to herself as he went after each of the apples, swallowing mouthful after mouthful of her ingenious concoction. _Now, Ricky, you will feel the slow, powerful wrath of the Grand Sith, Darth Lucy Higurashi!_

* * *

…and done! Whew, that was a lot for one chapter. You all deserve it all though.

For info, by the way, Heiankyo is the idea of there being one city of supreme peace, equality, and immortality. It has been attempted to be made many a time over by Shogun in the past, but, obviously, it didn't work. Like a Shangri-La.

Also, when Miroku mentions the 108 sins, in Shinto/Buddhist tradition, there are apparently 108 sins a person can ever commit. This isn't like the limit, but it's the number of different classifications. All that jazz.

…This was a howl to write…


	7. Sweet Smell

-1A/N - Our computer system is royally screwed. Our old computer was finally replaced (only took a good few months of persuasion from multiple members of our family) but was replaced with a messed up manager's discount computer. Our dad sent it back to be replaced, and was given a different one. However, that one doesn't recognize the phone lines in our house. And neither does the computer I am currently typing on. So I am most likely uploading this from our school (may it burn and rot in hell) or a friends house (depending on their hospitality.)

* * *

_**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**_

_**Chapter 7**_

_**Sweet Smell

* * *

**_

Dasunoshi building, Men's Dormitory

9:32 PM

"Jeez, you're heavy…" Kagome grumbled to herself, arm locked around the fully drunk and loopy Inuyasha. Her plan worked all right, but she had forgotten one specific detail of it; _how_ to get him back to his apartment. She had no car, no Syukuchi, no nothing except for the shoes on her feet, which had been abandoned earlier, since heels and hills don't mix.

"Which room is yours?" She asked. Her hangover-hanyo kept feeling heavier and heavier, and soon she was going to either dump him or loose her arm, one of the two. He wasn't exactly helping that much either, considering on their way up to this level he'd been rambling about his favorite fabric softener. _When this guy gets drunk, he doesn't fool around._

"Vitch voom is hers? The one with the pretty flamingo on it." Inuyasha threw out his left arm to point in this flamingo's general direction, nearly thwacking Kagome right in the jaw.

"Uh, Inuyasha, that's the elevator we just came out of."

"No!" He yelped in disbelief. "That's an Incubator? Maybe that's why it feels so hot in here. It's sooooooooooooooo hooooooooot in heeeeeere…"

_If I'm going to find his place,_ she thought to herself, setting him down next to some random dorm door. _I'd better dump the freaky furball._ "Inuyasha?"

"Yep!"He hollered back with a aloof, joyous expression that she swore she'd seen on her cat a dozen times before.

"I need you to stay- Hey, look at me!"

"I am cookin' at'chyou."

"No, you're **looking** at the remains of your little European outfit in my hand." The upper part of his royalty costume had been used earlier to protect her shoulders from drool when she had been giving him a piggy back ride up to the building. However, not only did the piggy's back break, but the rider had had no problem talking to her in some form of Japanese she knew no living thing had heard since the time of Ainu Dominance. Squatting down in front of him, Kagome waved her hand in front of his face to snag his attention. "Yoo hoo, look at me!" She grabbed the front two straps of his A-shirt and jostled him around a little. "You know, it's Kagome Higurashi, the girl you loath and despise?"

"I don't loathe and despise Kagome Hikurashi! I lover 'er! Oh, oh look, the flamingo knows the Charleston!"

Man, what was in that punch before she put the sake in? Beer maybe? Whatever it was, it was turning his brain to mush. _Not that he had much of one in the first place… "…_Whatever. Listen, I need you stay here, in this spot, on this ugly patch of carpet, while I try to go and look for your room. Got it?"

He raised his hand up to his forehead and gave a military salute. "Aye-aye, general! (hic)"

That wasn't a very promising response. She stood up and stared at him for a moment, wondering how a man like him, scruffy and generally rude and perverted and all the other stuff on her list of adjectives, could turn into a little fluffy puppy dog that was almost…

…

…_ cute?_

So then she walked off.

"Hey!" she heard her little doggy call. "Where are _you_ going?"

"To find someone who knows where your apartment is, I told you that!"

"Okeydokey!" He waved at her enthusiastically before plopping down on the ground again like a sleeping dog. _I brought this little thing into existence for a reason. I turned him into this for a reason. Don't get distracted. _She chanted to herself like a mantra.

Kagome turned the corner and, not knowing exactly where to start, randomly knocked on the first door she saw. There was a general clattering of interesting noises before the door opened, sending her face to face with a tall man, hair deep ebony and tied back in a long ponytail. He scratched his head, looking about half asleep before responding. "Sorry, Bankotsu's not in right now, but if you'd like to leave a message…"

"Um, excuse me?" She asked politely. He opened his eyes a bit more to actually look at her closer, then flipping a pair of rimless glasses from his forehead onto his eyes. "Oh, sorry, can I help you?" he yawned.

"Yes, um, I'm looking for Inuyasha Taisho's room, please?"

"Well, that half-breed doesn't live here." He said nonchalantly, taking a deep breath of air and letting it go in a massive rush. "Hey, Jyakotsu!"

"What is it?" She heard a voice call back.

"Someone is out here looking for…" he cringed , slightly shutting the door to keep down the brewing storm. "Inuyasha."

"**_INUYASHA!_**?" In less than a moment, the door was kicked back open, and this Bankotsu was effectively squished into the wall. "WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY DARLING INUYASHA!"

_Whoa. Get a grip. _"Um… I'm looking for his apartment?"

Jyakotsu opened his mouth to answer, before suddenly letting his face drop and shoving his arms across his chest. "Why do _you_ want to know, girlie? I don't want some woman taking my Inuyasha away from me!"

Kagome tried to refrained from laughing. "No, no, I'm just looking for a little…" _Think girl, think! What's a good excuse?_ "… revenge." _Ah, there we go. _

"What kind of revenge?"

Gulp. She hadn't thought of that possible response. "Uh, w-well…" Hold on, if this guy was so obsessed with Inuyasha,_ He might just let me get away with this with **that **answer…_ "My friends and I are out for revenge at him for personal matters. So, I'm planning to sneak in there and take some pictures of him."

She had his attention. "Oh?" Suddenly, this Jyakotsu was hanging off her every word, squatting down to be at her eye level, blush tinting his cheeks. "What_ kind_ of pictures?"

"…his package and etc." She was starting to understand why Ayame got so embarrassed about this subject now.

Jyakotsu jumped up into the air a good five feet screaming like a little girl, with Kagome's eyes proceeding to be the size of rice bowls. Once he came back down from cloud nine, "Listen, I want all the information as to how to get copies of the photos, movie clips, prints, whatever you get of my dear Inuyasha. Price is not a problem at this point."

_Video clips. I hadn't thought of that one._ "Boy do I wish you were joking."

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" She scratched the back of her head, adjusting the strap of her lawyer's brief case on her shoulder. It had been the perfect idea for hiding her digital camera and all of it's little accessories. "Anyway, I kind of need to get into his room before I can get the pictures, so."

"Say no more, I'll show you to it." He said, adjusting his oversized night shirt/dress before shutting the door and walking out into the hallway.

"Oh no, that's okay!" Kagome was beginning to panic. What was going to happen if Jyakotsu saw his crush drunk? What would he do? Scream? Attack her? Him? Kidnapping? _Something tells me something might happen that would not be allowed on public broadcasting_. "I just need to know the room number, that's all!"

"Really, it's no trouble at all!" Before she could stop him he had already jogged off down the hallway she had just come through and turned the corner.

"W-WAIT!" She sprinted after him, turning the corner to find…

Jyakotsu taking a key down from the top of the door frame that she had left Inuyasha by. The irony.

Hold on. Had left Inuyasha by. Had was past tense. This was present. Where was Inuyasha?

Kagome was suddenly going into a state of panic. She lost him! No, she told him to wait right there on the floor! And he wandered off! _That idiot of a dog-boy, what the hell was he thinking!… Well,_ she thought, biting her nails as Jyakotsu opened the door. _He probably wasn't thinking all that well considering he was drunk…_

"Here we are! Oh…" Jyakotsu wandered into the room, looking around all of his lovers' items. Especially the one with the plasma screen. "When did he get _this?_ I bet that roommate of his had it, that lucky little brat."

"Lucky to get the T.V. or be roommates with Inuyasha?"

"Both…" Jyakotsu looked around the hallway real quick before zipping back into the dorm room. "I think my little Inu-chan went off to a party tonight, so he shouldn't be coming back till later. Will you watch the hallways while I do a little… searching?…"

She was about to answer no because it was violating one's personal privacy. But then she held her tongue, considering what it was she was here for, and also if he was in there snooping, she might be able to go and quickly find their little white haired doggy boy. "Um, not at all, just don't take too much or he'll get suspicious."

Jyakotsu waved his hand back at her before slowly slipping into her target's room, giggling slightly to himself. "Now where shall I start…?"

The moment he shut the door she bolted. Whoa, that guy was creepy. But right now she had something **much** more important to be doing. "Inuyasha!" She hissed as loudly as she could without drawing attention to herself. "INUYASHA…!"

She ran down one hallway, frantically looking both ways for her escapee before coming to another and doing the same. If someone found him like this, he might never forgive her (not that she was really looking for forgiveness, in light of what it was that she was attempting to do here, but he would probably react extremely once he got over his hangover in the morning. She didn't have any real desire to meet Buddha early in her life.), or someone else might do something awful to him. This really got her worrying. _If it's Jyakotsu, I just imagine he'll never be fully secure with his sexuality again. But if it's one of these other guys…_

"Inuyasha!" She called once more. _That would be pretty funny though_ she thought wickedly, jogging down to the end of that hallway and starting down another. _Getting pictures of Inuyasha and Jyakotsu like that… I'd get a ton of money from Jya and little Inu would forever shun himself…_

But then she stopped. Had she really just thought that? Maybe she'd been hanging out with Rin for too long of time. Or maybe she was starting to take things too far. Besides, all she was here for was a picture or two of his private area or something, and that would be it. What on earth was going on with her, becoming so evil in this plan? _Maybe I need a shrink._ "Inuyasha!"

"Yeah?"

Kagome flew up into the air and yelped upon hearing his voice right behind her.

"Are'sa you looking for meeee-saaaaa?" he asked, lolling his head from side to side from his spot on the floor. Kagome slowly removed her nails from the wallpaper and slithered down to the ground. "Wh-wh- where have you b-been?"

"I heard Jyakotsu's voice so I run and hided."

_For good reason._ "I see…" Kagome took a deep breath to compose herself and stood back up. "Now, you wait **_here_** and don't move a millimeter unless I come back to get you… or you hear someone else coming, understand?"

"Yessiree!" He said, pressing one of his ears to the wall, getting a look on his face like James Bond. "I'll let you know if I hear any commotion, mon Capitan!"

She nodded affirmatively, a little more lax about leaving him alone this time. _Who am I kidding, _she thought, running briskly back to his dorm room._ He's so brain screwed that he probably can't even operate an elevator, let alone decipher what one is. And I was actually getting a little worried about him and everything…_

When she returned, everything in the main room was in it's same place, much to her relief. Jyakotsu walked out of Inuyasha's bedroom with a small, Tupperware box containing an interesting assortment of items that, before she could stop her mouth, she had to ask about. "What'chya got there?"

"Oh just some stuff from his room and drawers. Let's see, a few pairs of boxers, a swimming suit, some briefs, condoms, and stuff like that. Listen," he said, fishing around in his pockets that she didn't know existed. From these pockets he brought out what looked to be some black leather and chains. "Do you think you can try and get him in some pictures with this?"

That stuff before was enough to gross her out. This was pushing it. "I'll… try…" _…Not to vomit while I flush them down the toilet._ "L-listen, I saw Inuyasha and some other people coming into the building a while ago, so you'd better get going."

"How did you see him if you've been in here the whole time."

_Crap, this guy is perceptive._ "Uh, I saw it through his roommates window, so get going now!" She said franticly, all but pushing the door opener out of the room. "Hurry, hurry!"

"Okay, okay!" He finally started working with her, jogging back to his dorm room, running over Bankotsu again, tripping over the T.V., and landing on his head as Kagome took hold of the door handle and slammed it shut. She was tempted to use those chains and leather for locking that door up tight, but Kagome knew better. They would be easier to just be dumped into the trash compacter outside the Kichinkyo building.

Slowly she started walking back to his dorm, turning the corner and wandering down the hall till she came to the open door. "Okay," she said to herself quietly. "Time to get to work on setting the stuff for why… I'm here…" Suddenly, she didn't really feel that compelled to go through with this plan. It was rather cruel, wasn't it? Getting photos of someone naked when they were drunk and posting them online?…

…she was sure Rin wouldn't mind if the four them just kept these to themselves anyways. It might take her a while to get her off her own and Ayame's backs to avoid drawing things out, but Rin'd live. Especially since her digital camera was the new kind; where the only limit on video shots was how long the battery lasted. _Seriously, why didn't we think of that one?_

She opened up her briefcase and pulled out her camera, double checking the battery to see that it was full. She took off the neck strap and made _sure_ to take off the flash appendage -how embarrassing would that be, getting caught taking pictures because of one stupid light bulb?

"Okay, all ready." Setting the camera down on a nearby chair, she made sure to hide it behind a pillow. Kagome put the rest of her camera accessories for later behind the couch, including plugging in a xenon-battery charger with a battery plugged in to be charged behind it. She took a quick double take of the room, making sure everything was in it's right place before turning on her heel and heading out of the room.

She trotted down the hallways for the third time, luckily able to find her dear, little, soon-to-be-model. "Inuyasha, coast is clear."

"Awesomeness…" he said in return, attempting to stand up by clambering up the wall. "Zat Jyakotsu creeps me _oooouut…_" He instinctively placed his arm around her shoulder for support.

" I can understand why."

"I mean," he started as they began trudging back **once again** to his dorm room. "I don't mind that the guy is g_aaaaa_y or anything-a-magigy, as long as he'd stop trying to be gay with m_eeeee_."

"You mean you **wouldn't** mind him being gay if he stopped hitting on you?"

"Exacic- Exacticalllor- exactical-"

"Don't hurt yourself."

They turned the corner to his hallway. "Hey look, daz my door!"

"Yes, and it took Kagome a hells worth to figure that out…" Was she talking to a person or a vegetable?

"Awww, dank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu…" And he started humming some random song again. So far he'd covered every last tune from the 2010-2020 decade. The murder her poor ears were bearing…

They slowly crept back into his main room, and after helping him to sit down on the couch Kagome turned around and closed the front door. The handle didn't work all that wonderfully, it appeared, since she had to push it back in a time or two again for it to close fully.

Just then the phone rang, and after only one ring, the message recorder picked it up. "Hey, this is Miroku, just calling to say-" Kagome listened to the message for a bit longer, wondering what the sudden stop was. "… Okiko, stop it, I'm on the phone!"

"Pervert."

"Pervert!"

Kagome suddenly whipped her head around to see Inuyasha looking just as stunned as her. "Hey, you said the same thing as me… JYNX!"

"I unjynx myself."

"Aw, maaaan."

"-Anyway," the man dubbed pervert continued. "Just calling you, Inuyasha, to not expect me tonight… or maybe tomorrow till noon. I'm going to be a little (ahem) busy. Oh, and be good Kagome!"

And the phone went dead. As did Kagome's jaw. _W-w-w-w-w-what? W-what di- how did he- when-…_

_HUH!_

"Hey, Miroku remembered your name!" Her little, drugged up doggy said. "It took me forever, but he got it just like that!" Snap of the fingers. "Whoa, he's got goooooood membory."

Unbelievable. Miroku knew she was here? HOW! Was it just a guess? Did he figure it out? Did he figure it _all_ out? As in what she was planning to do? Was this all just a hoax or something! Her brain was starting to go into an adrenaline panic, a hyper mode that was supposed to be used only on rare occasions, not twice within the same hour. Kagome felt her palms bead up with sweat, especially if a sober Inuyasha later heard that message. If that happened, her name would be dead mud. With a capital d.

So, that left only one thing to do. _Must kill message._

In a leap rivaling those of super heroes of comic books she had studied about, she landed on the message recorder and hit every last button she could find. It started saying things in computerized language before another button was hit and it had to start saying something else. " You have 3 messa- Volume up- Volume down 1 leve- Pleased to meet yo- internal hard chip- finger print scanner install- messages deleted."

"Ah, that's the one." Her wave of relief, however, was interrupted by a tedious squeaking behind her. Kagome looked over her shoulder, simultaneously placing the message recorder back in it's original place, hoping that the small traces of smoke coming out of it wouldn't be too conspicuous. What she saw could only be called a dear diary moment.

There was Inuyasha, her archrival, as it were, jumping up and down on the couch like a kitten smothered in catnip. Each time he went down he yelled out "Boing!", although after a few jumps the alcohol inflicted it to " Blyoinining!", and later just "Bluh!" Oh, if only she could take out her camera now! This would be perfect!

With the face of an amused parent trying to contain themselves to try and scold their child, Kagome walked up to the intoxicated hanyo and her arms over her chest. "Inuyasha, could you come down here please?"

"Nuh uh!"

"Please?"

"Nope!"

Where was Sango's advice at a time like this? "Now."

"Nothing doing!"

She pointed her finger straight to the ground. "SIT, BOY!"

He slipped on a cushion and landed face first on the ground.

" Inuyasha, you okay?"

He didn't budge at all. Kagome knelt next to him and gently shook his shoulder. "Inuyasha?…"

He suddenly threw his head up in the air, shocking poor Kagome to bits once again. "Whew, that was fun, but that hurt! Did I get a bump-a-dee-bump?"

Once she was able to breath enough to respond, "N-no, no bump."

Kagome helped him stand back up again, and after spending a few minutes reteaching him the basics of walking, Inuyasha was able to stand on his own again. "Hey, I think I got it!"

"Good boy." _If I didn't hate him so much already, I'd say he was cute._

_Ugh, Kagome, get a grip!_ She mentally slapped herself. _You are here for a purpose, for revenge (and if not revenge, yen). Stay focused!_ "Hey, Inuyasha?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't you think you'd better wander on back to your room and change into some better clothes? I can only imagine how much longer that outfit will hold up before it falls apart." She asked, slowly inching her way towards the hiding chair.

He looked down at his clothes with a curious look. "Well, maybe you're right. I think the Charleston Flamingo squawked at them earlier."

"Okay then, you go change your clothes."

The moment he turned around to start for his room, Kagome whirled around to search for her camera.

_This will be great,_ she thought, mentally preparing herself for her upcoming debut as a photographer. _I'll get those pictures, and maybe video clip or two, Rin'll get off our backs, and I'll have another round at revenge at old… _Hold on, where'd the camera go? She was sure that she'd put it right behind that pillow. _Maybe it got knocked around in all this ruckus or something_.

She slowly moved back the seat cushion, and sure enough, there it was, squished between the cushions, half a chocolate bar (_Ewww)_ and the remains of what appeared to be a remote controller. She double checked that the battery was still in before turning it on, making all of the right settings for her photo shoot. _Okay, big guy, here I come._

She stood up and turned around.

To find Inuyasha standing there wearing only air. "Hey, I'm not done yet."

"EIYA!" She whirled around and huddled her hands to her chest. That was way more than what she was asking for. Blush gorged its way up onto her face in cascades as she heard Inuyasha slowly stepping closer. "Kagome, what is ze matter?"

She opened her mouth to try and speak, but the closest thing she could get was a kind of choking/squealing sound that's pitch was barely audible. She had never seen a naked man before; well, not true, considering if you split everyone into men and women, her younger brother qualified as a man. Though not really. But just in that split second she had never felt so embarrassed in her life! It was permanently scorched into her mind, and somehow, all pictures and videos were now permanently out.

"Holy crap, you're choking!" He yelled, and moved around her to perform the Heimlich maneuver. But, considering where this placed his _it_, as it was so dubbed, that was enough to almost make her choke for real.

"**_GET OFF!_**" She screamed, turning around like a wild hurricane and shoving him across the room. It was only after the shove did she realize that she had forgotten to shut her eyes, and therefore, had another image permanently scorched into her brain.

After his crash landing, Kagome fell to the floor, hands covering her eyes. "G-g-g-g-g-go p-put something on for c-c-rying out l-loud!"

Inuyasha looked down at himself, and suddenly realized the dilemma. "Oh, whoops." He then scurried, to the best of his effort anyway, off towards his room, which conveniently was right next to his landing area.

She felt sick to her stomach. Kagome felt bad. _Very _bad. She felt violated, except it was kind of her own fault, so that feeling wasn't so extreme. But in truth she felt guilty. That she even planned to do any of this. That she let Rin remind Ayame time after time of this same event that she would undoubtedly have to endure too. She just felt…

_… pompous…_ at that, she laughed at herself.

She heard Inuyasha's footsteps once again, and slowly peeked through her clasped hands. And sighed. "Thank goodness you at least know how to dress yourself."

Suddenly, all thoughts of that previous little adventure into the unknown slipped away as he said four little words.

"I don't feel good."

And threw up.

* * *

10:57 PM

Kagome listened once again to the gurgle and flush of the toilet, not really looking up from the T.V. screen this time. Not when the American Soap Opera was getting good. "You okay in there, Inuyasha?" She called out, taking another handful of chips and putting them in her paper plate.

"Yeah…" she heard back, and in a few moments more he turned the corner and trudged back into the main room, walking slowly over to the couch and plopping down on it. As Kagome had just discovered, there were apparently three different stages of a drunken hanyo. They were loopy-go-loosey mode, or what she had to endure up until Inuyasha threw up, reversal mode, where all stomach and body contents wanted out of the body the same way they had came in, and the third, for which she was worried most about; hangover. She had a pretty good idea that she should get out of there before that final mode set in, since it was the one before soberness and the inevitable havoc that would be brought with it.

However, she wasn't about to go and leave someone in this state, throwing up every fifteen minutes. So, Kagome handed him the bag of chips, eyes glued to the plasma screen. "What did I miss?"

"Not much," She answered. "Just some new guy talking to Roger, or at least I think his name is Roger." She pointed to the screen towards 'Roger'.

"I thought that was Shaun."

"No, the one over there is Shaun, I think, and- WHOA!"

"WHOA! I don't think his wife is going to be very happy about that!"

"Which one, Roger's or Shaun's?"

"Probably Roger's, since Shaun's just found out about his mistress, so she's already gonna be ticked."

"That's true, though the mistress isn't gonna be too pleased about this either. Oh, there they are." Kagome said, biting into another chip as the two women circled each other like two vultures going after the same carcass."

"_I'll never let you have my brother, Suzanne!"_ She said.

"What do you think Mariah said?" Inuyasha asked.

"All I caught was Suzanne. Maybe she said she's never gonna let her have her husband?"

"_Oh come on, it's for one day only. We all know he's good at basketball, so why don't you just let him teach our team for one practice?"_

"Something to do with basketball and…"

"One day," he finished. "Maybe Suzanne met him one day while playing basketball?"

"No idea."

"_But on his wedding day! Even if it is with another man, it's still a sacred thing!"_

_"Oh please."_

"I didn't pick up anymore words on that go-round. Probably more angry bitch talk." Kagome leaned over and snagged the pillow from earlier, placing it behind her neck for support. "Oh, we're over to Juniper and Malor… What kind of a name is Malor?"

"Italian?"

"_You're hiding something, Juniper… what is it that you know about this upcoming basketball game?"_

_"It's nothing like that-"_

_"Or is it about your friend… **Roger**?"_

"Oh, she flinched at the name of Roger! Is she in love with him?" Kagome asked to herself.

"Look's like it's over," Inuyasha announced, the screen fading black and the credits turning up not long after. He reached over to the remote and turned off the T.V., scooting back into the cushions of his tan, cloth couch. When his stomach gave a foreboding rumble, Inuyasha curled up around it, turning over and cradling himself on the couch seat. "Ugh…"

" I must say, I really do wonder where your stomach gets all that stuff to spit up." Kagome said randomly, patting him on the back some like she used to for Sota. This usually prevented the vomiting, she had learned. All in how relaxed the person was. "If you don't quit soon I'm thinking an organ or two is going to pop out."

"Oh… hush up…"

_Sounds like the normal Inuyasha I loathe and disgust is coming back…_

They just sat there for what seemed like an endless eternity, Kagome patting his back to keep down the bile, Inuyasha every now and then cringing at the pain in his abdomen. Once or twice she thought about getting up and looking for some suppressant or medicine to help, but she always went against it, not knowing what all might happen if something like that met a large dose of alcohol. For all she knew, she might find herself having to try and piggyback him over to the local hospital for a stomach pumping if something bad went down. Riding it out was the safest choice at the moment, but it certainly wasn't the easiest.

Inuyasha suddenly got a much more powerful pain in his stomach, like a strong punch getting dealt in and trying to churn around his insides into an inoperable mess. He knew that the effects of the alcohol were beginning to wear off, since he was starting to be able to think more clearly and focus. When he squinted, he could even see the clock above the movie port reading 11:24, before shutting his eyes tightly closed once more.

For a hanyo, having the consumption of stuff like rice wine wasn't much. His liver was much more efficient and handled it differently than a normal human, so it was able to filter it out better. However, Inuyasha knew, mainly from past experiences, that the effects and after effects of such a high dosage were going to be with him for the whole trip. Most likely, he would only remember bits and pieces of tonight in the morning, those bits and pieces probably getting pushed aside by a hell of a hangover.

"Shh…" Inuyasha listened to the soft feminine voice, cooing him like a weeping child. _Who… who is that?…_

"Shh…" Inuyasha heard again, his back being soothed by continuous, rotation rubbing. "Breath, Inuyasha… if you keep tensing like that you'll only make it worse…"

_It's… it's that Kagome Higurashi? What is sh-she doing in here?…_ His mind was suddenly aching to remember what all had happened this night, which had lead up to him being comforted by his apparent arch rival. Not much was coming out of the old memory banks, considering his brain was still putting on a kaleidoscope of colors every time he shut his eyes. The only thing he could really recollect was seeing a dancing flamingo, and considering he didn't live in a native place of flamingos, Inuyasha suspected this was a little attribute of the sake.

But after listening for a while, he slowly felt himself begin to loosen up, letting his muscles relax to her soothing tone. He kept listening to her voice…her sweet, gentle voice, Kagome gently moving her hand back and forth to coax him to be calm.

Surely something was screwed up here. Wasn't this the same Kagome Higurashi that he had been at war with for the past two months? What the hell happened? Was she drunk too? Nope, not one fowl fume of alcohol was coming from her breath. He doubted that she felt bad for him and was now taking care of him or something. He didn't quite think she had what it took to be a little 'angel' considering what all she had cooked up as revenge.

But right then, he didn't really care. He didn't mind who it was, as long they were calming him down. His torso muscles gave way to her words of calm, letting his head move forward and closer to her. He felt his forehead touch something warm, almost like touching flesh, only there being a barrier of clothing. As he discovered, his entire body was slowly uncurling out onto the couch, not just his head.

Maybe it was because of the alcohol, or that old saying that the way to a man's heart was through his stomach, but as Kagome reached down to continue her rubbing, Inuyasha's hand snatched hers in the middle of the air. He held it firm, in almost a needy way, like what she used to do to her mother when she was feeling ill, and wanted more attention, refusing to let it go until assured of safety.

After a few more moments, Inuyasha was fully sprawled out, his feet overhanging the sofa arms, his head in Kagome's lap. She felt his breathing through the black slacks of her costume, rough and unpredictable, but slowly calming down with each reverberating exhale. Slowly she rolled him over, so his face was to hers, head resting on her legs. "Better?"

"…y-yeah…" he managed, taking a gulp from the dryness of his mouth. Whether the dryness was from his physical stature or emotional, he couldn't tell. But then he got to wondering… what exactly was it that was pulling him out of this alcoholic stupor? _Even for a demonic liver it's not **this **fast…_ he thought, slowly cracking his eyes open in wonder. As he gazed up at her face Kagome reached down and wiped the few beads of sweat on his forehead, making sure none escaped into his eye. "Well, that's good, I guess. Though in a few hours you'll be back to your normal, grumpy self," She sighed, sitting back into the cushions. "It was nice while it lasted."

"W-what…" He began before clearing his voice, making sure he didn't sound too sober. _Never thought I'd being aiming for that in my voice_. "W-what was… nice?…"

"Oh, you in drunko-puppy form." She said, picking up the channel/program guide, scrolling through the different shows currently on the telly. "Like this, I might call you cute, if I didn't hate your guts when you're not boozed up."

Oh, that made him feel great. She, this woman who he claimed was beautiful physically, emotionally -as recently proven- and spiritually, thought that he was the equivalent of pond scum. Juuuust peachy. _Shoot me now…_ "Why do you hate me?"

"Well, maybe because you tye-died our room, blew up our microwave, and gave me and Sango a hefty bill for clean up and repair…" He would have made a smart remark, but held his tongue. Mostly because she had more to say, and he didn't want to blow his cover. "But…" she sighed again, putting down the T.V. schedule down nearby and twiddling with his hair. "I suppose we… **_I_ **kind of deserved it, considering I lashed back each time… but what about that first time? Why'd you go after us in the first place?"

"Simple," he said, closing his eyes before they rolled. "I have to eat with my hands for a good long while now. That first night the cafeteria only had spaghetti, so I decided to give you all the same color of room that had been my hands."

"What are you talking about? You don't have to eat with your hands because of me!"

"You busted my only chopsticks."

So what, like that-" Hold on. Her current events class was starting to come back into mind. "… wait… that's right, the Over-Declaration laws from America…"

"Yep, so for another two years or so I have to wait for my brother to come around and get me some. Usually he gives a pair to me every fourth birthday."

Her sub-coconscious was telling her it was rather suspicious how clear he was speaking and with good memory, but she wasn't listening. "You have a brother?"

"Half-brother, really. He's a jack-ass, but gets a little guilty about leaving his 'poor little half breed brother' every now and then."

"Well, that's dumb."

_Huh?_ Where the hell did she get that from? "Come again?"

"It's stupid." She repeated, staring down into his eyes with pure confidence.

"Mind explaining?"

"Well, I guess that sake hasn't fully worn off you-"

_If you only knew_.

"Why should he feel guilty about you or anything. You're not really someone to get guilty over." Boy were those words hypocritical.

"Keh, thanks a lot."

"Oh no, that's not what I meant."

"Well you said it, didn't you?"

"Yes, but it came out wrong. I just mean that as far as I can tell, you seem to be rather self-reliant, and getting guilty over you because of your blood is just dumb. It's like how the British used to pity the 'poor, naked savages' of Siam, for example. Or with the Spanish towards the Central Americans who were some of the best scientist and mathematicians of the day… though the Spanish just kind of came and slaughtered them all, so I guess that's different."

"Huh, ya' think?"

"Oh shut up," She somewhat scowled at him, but brushed it off. _He doesn't know what he's doing anyway, so what's the harm?_ "That's what my father made sure to teach me and Sota as we grew up."

_Wait, on the computer with old Kaede that day, it said that she only had a mother._ "Made? Why not makes sure? You're not exactly an adult yet, you know."

She pressed her hand to his forehead. "Hm… are you beginning to sober up?"

_Quick, think of something!_ And he did. He made a little yipping sound, making sure to never let any other living soul hear that again as long as he lived. But at least it did its purpose; from her face he could tell she still thought he was a drunkard.

"He died a good many years ago. I was only two, and Sota wasn't even born yet."

"Then how does that work out, with you both getting taught by him and-"

"Can we change the subject, eh?" He looked at her face and took deep mental note on it. She wasn't just hiding something. No, this was something much bigger than what he hid about his parent's deaths. As a lost child he knew that well enough.

"No thanks…" He said, yawning quite honestly, his brain shutting down to sleep. As much as he wanted to deny it, he really was tired. _Probably because of the sake,_ he thought._ … I wonder… why did I get sober so… fast…_

Kagome let out a disgruntled breath of air, watching his heavy eyelids slip down over his irises. He really was something when he was drunk, she'd admit. And not too mention didn't look too bad -_Don't think of his package, don't think of his-oh crap! -_, but he still was a jerk normally. _It's really too bad, I guess…_

Inuyasha somewhat rolled over, his face turning in towards her stomach. "You smell nice."

At first, she thought she misheard. That maybe he'd said "I smell mice." But he didn't. He said, in his normal, sober-like self **you smell nice**. And that was all that was need to push her heart down a dandy little avenue entitled Pulmonary Screeching-dead Halt. "W-w-w-what?"

"You smell nice…" He said again sleepily, taking in another whiff of air. "… that bastard Koga was right. Oh well, can't win 'em all…"

_W-w-w-w-w-w-w-hat!_ She was still trying to get used to compliments from men. And considering this was the second one in her entire lifetime, she still had a way to go. _Wha-wha-what did he m-m-mean by that! _"Inuyasha," She began. "are you…" Kagome watched his chest rise and fall rhythmically and peacefully, is face without it's usual angry contorts. "…asleep?…"

Well that was one way to end a night; nearly having your heart go into cardiac arrest. Kagome sat there for a little while longer, trying to figure out what on earth it was that that meant. Well, it obviously was a compliment - she wasn't that dense - but where on earth did he pull that one out of.

As she slowly slipped out of the dorm room, locking the door and placing the key back in it's hiding spot, Kagome kept running it over and over again in her head. _You smell nice … You smell nice… Oh, boy, what the hell is wrong with me._ She thought as the elevator door's closed in front of her. _Why is my stomach getting all… fliddery or something. Like butterflies are having a drag race in there._

But it was at that time that she put two and two together.

"Holy crap…" She gasped to herself, covering her mouth with her hand.

"I love him!" (Nope, just kidding! That'd be waay too fast. Let's try that again!)

"Holy crap…" She gasped to herself, covering her mouth with her hand.

Now she understood why his face had kept popping into her head. In a mighty and thunderous yell that almost woke up the dozing hanyo a floor or two above her, Kagome yelled "**_KOGA! HE MENTIONED AYAME BEFORE WITH KOGA! OH MAN, IDIOT, IDIOT, IDIOT!" _**She banged her head against the wall. **_"AYA IS GOING TO MAIM ME!"_**

* * *

Oh, that was fun.

For those of you who don't know Bankotsu and Jyakotsu, you'd better go get those new manga books. I'm not explaining.

(Side Note- the Intro was done i do believe... two weeks ago. yeah, oi. Our computers are back and up and running, and I plan to get the nest chapter up this weekend.)


	8. Repercussions

-A/N - Yeah, I'll try and update on the weekend, I say. Damn this muse, make up your mind went I must write and not. (looks up at sky) WAIT! DON'T PUNISH ME FOR THAT!

Anyway, in the most recent development of the ongoing computer war, Our new computer no longer accepts CD's or DVD's. So, the original version of this chapter is permanently stuck on me laptop. (I really shouldn't be complaining). At least it's faster now. Basically. Oh, whatever.

* * *

**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**

**Chapter 8**

**Repercussions**

* * *

November 1, Saturday, 9:15PM

Kichinkyo Building, Women's dormitory

"What?" Ayame glared forward at her friend, eyes intense with rage and jealousy. Kagome just broke the news about their feral playboy.

"Yes, I'm sorry, but you're my friend, and I had to tell you." She stuck out her lower teeth in dismay, slowly taking a seat on the duct tapped bean bag of her dorm room. "You must hate me…"

"Oh no, I don't hate you," Ayame let her face calm a bit. "Why should I hate you? He was the one who made a pass at you, not the other way around." Ayame looked as if she was going to say more, but stopped with her mouth open. Instead she took in a deep breath of air and sighed, leaning forward onto her knees. They sagged downward off the lower bed a bit, but she let it be, her red locks of hair gently cascading over her shoulders. "It's just…"

Kagome bowed her head in query, eyebrows raised.

Aya gently chuckled to herself, scoffing at a hidden matter once rolling back onto the handmade bedspread. "His last girlfriend came up to me one day, after we had been going out for a week or two and she told me "He's just going to cheat on you like he has to every other girlfriend of his."" She said in an imitated high pitched voice. Ayame shot a small breath of air out of her mouth to move a lone strand of hair on her face away, but it fell back and landed in the same place.

"I just thought he was a nice guy." Kagome looked up at her friend sadly. Ayame been not only played, but disgraced, shunned, and walked over, all because little Higurashi came onto the scene. While slowly getting up from her seat, Kagome picked up on of their extra blankets to take with on her trip to the bed. "I know…"

"I mean, he was so charming and handsome… and everything just seemed so right, you know?" She scrunched up her face in thought, taking hold of the blanket offered like a small child, being comforted after a bad day at primary school.

"When I first met him, I didn't think that he was going to turn out to be so evil," Her friend offered as comfort. Ayame gave a half hearted smile as a reply. "Well, duh."

"No, I mean I thought that was just as much as the tall, dark and handsome white knight that you did, just I didn't get any emotional attachment. He was charming, and for the first time I was actually complemented genuinely by guy, and I admit I got those same little jitters. Of course we fell for it; he's dashing, charming, willing to sweep you off your feet… What girl wouldn't want something like-"

She stopped in mid-sentence because of the glare she was getting from a certain red headed demon.

"… I think you get the point…"

Ayame sat up again, gently resting on her friend's shoulder. "Yeah, I get it." She sighed with a smile. "We were swept off our feet by a vacuum like guy, got duped, and are overall stupid."

"That about covers it, 'cept I didn't fall for him."

Ayame laughed a bit, her breath low and faded, as if washed out and desaturated. Gone was her usual pep, happiness, overzealous manners that bent the rules of female sexuality, everything. They sat without all of the walls and exaggerations, simply as their core: women.

Kagome hummed softly to them both , a tune that she simply let loose from her heart. It was slow, strong, thick and full of sorrow, yet hopeful. It gently reverberated against both of their bodies and out into the world through the crack in the window that was impossible to close.

There came a loud pounding at the door. "Can we come back in yet! There isn't a bloody heater in this stupid hallway!" Rin called through chattering teeth.

Dasunoshi Building, Men's Dormitory

9:20 PM

Inuyasha sat there in a daze on his bed, window open, icy winter air blowing in. His blankets were wrapped around his shoulders, his breath gently turning into white puffs of frost and chill. He gazed up at the rare clear sky, all of the stars and milky way so clear and lovely. _Kikyo…_

He hadn't seen her all year. Her birthday was coming up soon, in just about a fortnight, and it would be nice if she actually showed her face to him to let him know she was still among the living.

Inuyasha picked up a cigarette from the box on his nightstand, lit it up and inhaled deep, coughing as the rough plant smoke tried to choke his lungs. Apparently nicotine smoke didn't like the icy reality of Hakodate air and the exmosphere.

"Jewelry is definitely out." he said to no one while immunizing himself to the death stick. "Not that it's legal for me to buy jewelry , but you lost our chances of getting it underground this go-round, Kikyo." He blew out the smoke.

The campus was silent as falling snow, which, ironically, was falling down from the westerly winds. Everyone else had their windows closed, their heaters on, their blankets wrapped around them and their parkas in their beds this night. Only in a few dormitory rooms were lights on, replicating the vast stars above in their apparent randomness.

But across the falling snow, a gentle tune danced across his sensitive ears. It was small and soft from its distance, but significant. He knew the feeling of grief that was exemplified so clearly in its notes, but there was something else there that gently made him lift up his head. Lift up his head in wonder, watching the falling snow flakes and the unmoving stars.

* * *

Hakodate University Campus

November 12

1: 32 PM

"MOVE IT, YOU JACK ASSES!" Kagome roared at the random men standing at the entrance to the art building. She was sprinting up the stairs, her art books in hand, painting roll covers in the other hand, art supplies over her shoulder, scarf on head and poptart -lunch- in mouth. This was not a good a Wednesday.

The boys quickly jumped out of the way of the weighted down behemoth in the puffy parka (_I'm going to kill my mother_), who burst through the doors of the building and shot down to the right like a burnt rabbit. She was going to be late for her figure studies class in just about three minutes, and her professor, Naraku sensei, was not exactly the most lenient of teachers when it came to tardiness. "And they said that teachers don't **care** if you're late…" she quickly mumbled to herself.

Turning down another corridor, Kagome was suddenly faced with a big problem. The corridor was packed, as in not a person moving in one direction or another, more full than a British soccer stadium packed. It was a human ameba.

Growling, Kagome blew strand of hair out of her face before diving in. however, after just a few bodies in, she knew that method wasn't going to work. She got down on all fours and began mumbling to herself while crawling like a mouse through the maze of human legs. "Ji-chan always said 'Beware of fours and nines; the numbers of death and suffering.' Well, apparently twelve and eleven together aren't much better, buddy!"

Although there was some general distaste by her passers-under (and some creepy taste of some of the guys she past under) , Kagome scuttled in and out of the walls of flesh before getting upright and bolting around the corner. _Okay,_ she thought hastily_. Just one more corridor in thirty second and I'm not dead, in thirty seconds and_.

She came to the corridor.

"I'm dead."

The entire hallway was a mess of orange cones warning of the wet floor before her, a good twenty-five meters from her classroom door. She knew that attempting to walk and skitter over the tiling would only end her with a broken hip and broken ego from Naraku-aku. So, tilting down her scarf over her head, slipping her poptart into her pocket and taking a few steps back, she did the last thing possible in a moment of desperation.

"HAIYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

She ran forward and jumped down on the ground, sliding at super sonic speeds down the hall. She began to hastily count the number of cones she sent off to the sides of her racing rink, eyes locked on to her destination. "SIXTEEN, SEVENTEEN, EIGHTEEN, NINETEEN, TWENTY…!"

And she came to her door. By slamming head on into the steel paneling and making it rattle with the likeness of a gong, Kagome slowly began sliding backwards while she gripped her nose, scrambling to get up on her feet. She stood up once, but the moment she took a step her leg flew out from underneath her, and gently rolled over the floor like a sleepy hockey puck over the ice. She tapped the door with her feet before sliding backwards again, but this time was more tenacious. She threw out her painting roll cover, getting the sling caught on the handle, and she tugged, successfully ramming her up against the door for a second time.

Aching, she slowly and warily stood up on her own two feet and tugged at the door to open, but it didn't. She tugged again, and did so vigorously that she ended up doing the splits and then coming back to her previous stance.

She looked up at the door, and found a small gray post-it note well camouflaged with the door. She read it aloud. "Attention to all Figure study students of Naraku at 1:35 PM class; the class has been rescheduled to 1:00PM and is located in Hahorumen Building, room A-49-1211."

Hahorumen Building. As in the building that was exactly thirty meters from the front steps of kichinkyo dormitory.

Kagome's eyes rolled upward. "What did I ever do to you, kami-sama?" she said before her legs gave again and she flew down to the floor, the top of her painting roll cover popping off, the wet painting inside floating down and landing squarely on her face.

"…shit…"

Kichinkyo building, Women's Dormitory

4:55 PM

"Hey, your friend Eri or Ayumi or whoever called about fifteen minutes ago and…" Rin looked up at her friend, whose nose was red with dried blood, her hair a shambles and the stuffing of her coat popping out from one sleeve. "…You look like you just got tossed into the garbage compacter. What happened!"

"Simple," the Tokyo girl said, bits of poptart crumbs blowing out of her mouth as she slumped to the floor. "Mr. Naraku-aku decided to move the class today next door, and I had to make a leap at the normal classroom door better than anyone on our baseball team ever has and winded up ramming into the bloody door. Then when I went back outside to try and get to the classroom, my nose started bleeding- I guess from the door impact and combo of dry air- " sniffle. " and suddenly these guys from nowhere stat pelting snow-ice balls at me!"

"Huh?" Rin asked, getting down on her knees to get eye-to-eye contact. "Why did they do that?"

"Oh… I guess they found out that I took Inuyasha back to his dorm room and crap and they thought I did a specific something that I would never do with him ever in my entire life-"

"Sex?"

"Yep. They started calling me a 'hanyo humper', and when I tried to get away they started chasing me. I was lucky as hell that Sango came along with her syukuchi, so I got on and we went off, but we had to go through some old bushes to loose them, and I didn't have a helmet, so I cut open my jacket and just… ugh…" She slumped forward and let her forehead touch the ground from exhaustion. "This has been a very bad day."

"I'll say." Rin patted Kagome on the back, helping her friend to wiggle out of the ripped up parka. " Why don't you report it to the police or something as assault?"

Kagome looked up at her friend in disbelief. "Uh, hello, do you realize this is Japan! I'd be laughed right out of that police station before you could say blah."

"How come? I mean, if you were assaulted, then you-"

"Wait, wait, wait…" Kagome held up her hand. She gave a quick sigh, like that of a parent to a child who misunderstood some sort of an occurrence. "Where did you grow up again?"

"Well, I was born in Niigata, but grew up in the Korean Union. What does that have to do with anything?"

"Everything." Kagome shook her right sleeve to get it off. "you've lived a nice little sheltered life in Korea, and I guess it's about time I clue you in on the rest of the world. Around in here, demons, half-demons, and anyone who is associated with demons are suppressed, looked down upon, and terrorized. Haven't you ever heard of the Massacre of Paris and Rome in 2012? Or maybe the lesser known riots of Perth, or the one in Kigali, or maybe the St. Louis uprising in 2021?"

"Well…" Rin, in the most mundane and insecure moments she had ever had, slightly raised her shoulders in the air and cast her eyes downward. "I mean, we had to learn about it in history class, but it all happened when I was so young that I didn't even know anything about it." She slowly looked up at her friend. "…and I always just kind of thought that demons and such lived all nice and happy in Japan and the United States and all…"

Kagome opened her desk drawer and began scoring for some antibiotic ointment. "Well, legally, besides Korea, Belgium and Bhutan, Japan and the United States are the best about it, even though neither has killed off the Over-declaration yet. Unofficially, though, we're just as screwed up as the rest of the world. What with the government not enforcing the laws set out and letting the syndicates and Yakuzas go at the demons, or in the united states where the two parties are so busy assassinating members of the other party that they don't even pay attention to the skirmishes that break out, like the one in St. Louis…"Kagome shook her head in dismay, rubbing white cream over her swelling lip. "It's all just a big show to the politicians. Saying whoever can have the most freedoms even though there isn't a thing given to the idea of enforcing those laws…"

Rin stared at her friend for a moment. She did have to admit to herself that she really hadn't known all that much about the subject growing up. When she was younger her parents always just told her to be thankful that she lived in a free Pyongyang, and that their government was balanced and true and such. "How did you come to learn so much about all of this?"

Kagome smiled to herself, looking at her image in their small mirror to rub off the bloody stains on her skin. "I was that really weird kid through out school that always listened to the news at the end of the day, and barely went out and about during the school year until senior year of high school. My mom always said I was going to be a politician, but I didn't want to."

"But… with those other places and stuff, the ones that you said that are 'lesser known'," Rin put the words in quotations with her fingers. "How did you learn about those?"

"I got bored in the school library one day." Kagome answered back simply.

Rin nodded and raised an eyebrow, turning her attention back over to her cooling ramen noodles. "By the way…" she began with a smirk. " I know you didn't get the pictures of Inuyasha, but I don't believe you ever told me the details."

Kagome first response was a growl. "Please, kami, no. That jack-ass already blew off the last two Hakodate club meetings, and at the moment, I really just don't want to talk or think about men."

"Oh come on, just widdle itty bitty detail?" She asked in a voice like helium and scrunched up fingers. Kagome sighed, gathered herself mentally, and faced her friend with her arms on her hips. "Big."

"That's not a detail, that's a rerun. Gimme dirt."

Kagome leered at Rin icily. "No."

"C'mon, just a little more information."

"No; no more info, no more details, no more dirt. I don't even own shovel anyway."

Rin pouted, shoving her arms over her chest as her face soured. "It's not fair. Both you and Aya have gotten to see _it_, and you won't tell me a single thing. What's with the whole Inform-Rin embargo?"

"Rin, there isn't some embargo against you," Kagome said. "We just don't like reliving the moment when it happened, okay?"

"When what happened?"

"We saw it."

"Oh…" Rin gave a little smile and knocked the side of her head with her fist. "Sorry, brain spasm moment."

Kagome rolled her eyes ad returned to applying the antibiotic cream to her wound. The more she rubbed, though, the more she felt uneasy. Her mind was leading her back to that night a few weeks back, in Inuyasha's dorm, her rubbing his back to sooth his stomach. Gently her eyes went out of focus, all images in front or behind her a blurred jumble in her mind.

She really hadn't gotten a chance to fully take in that night, what with the heyday of Ayame and Koga that still was unsettled, then those big art projects, and the crappy weather… the list went on and on of her diversions._ And not only that, he's refused to so much as even speak to me since then. If we get screwed in the Hakodate club, then there goes my G.P.A. …_

She stopped rubbing her upper lip. _Though… I guess I would be a little angry if he had gotten me drunk and had taken me back here with my brain off on Pluto… Okay, really angry._ Kagome sank down into her desk chair, the black, nylon fibers slowly unraveling from the chair back. Her breath left her mouth stiffly and uneasy as she placed the small bottle back into the open drawer, shutting it promptly afterward.

_I guess I can't blame him for not saying a thing to me or anything… _

Dasunoshi building, men's Dormitory

5:03 PM

"Ring, you piece of shit phone, ring!" Inuyasha screamed at the cordless floppy phone, his hands grinding away at his scalp while his elbows rested on the table top. Miroku rolled his eyes for what he was sure to be the eight billionth time since he opened his text book, and his nerves felt like they had just been shoved into a blender on steroids. "Inuyasha, I can understand your edginess and all, but get a freakin' grip!"

"YOU SHUT UP!" He pointed his finger directly at the black haired man with a feral anger. "Besides, I'm not edgy. I'm just… anxious. And I have freakin' grip, and another on welcome to your neck anytime you want." He growled.

Miroku raised up his hands in mock terror. "Oh no, what _will _I do?…" and went back to his reading.

As did Inuyasha to his phone honing. _C'mon… c'mon… c'mon! It's your bloody birthday, Kikyo, you'd think that you'd at least call! _Why wasn't she calling him? Yelling at him for not sending her a birthday present? Had something happened to her? No, she wasn't some weak ass chick who would scream if a volley ball rolled towards her. Maybe she just dumped him, just like that? What a bitch then; not even coming up and saying that she had broken up with him, instead simply not calling anymore.

He stopped for a moment to note the irony of that thought.

Either way it wouldn't matter if he tried to call her. The number from last year would be no use; she would have changed buildings and rooms for this year in college. But not getting a single notice at **all** for this long!… Inuyasha was seriously considering a new pack of Sake.

Miroku watched as his friend muttered to himself. _He needs a psychiatrist. _

_Not that one would ever accept him, but that doesn't change anything._

But then Miroku got and idea.

He got a horrible idea.

He got a wonderful, horrible idea.

He slammed his book shut as loud as possible, literally sending the clawed hanyo up to the ceiling and getting stuck there.

And _then _the phone rang.

"Don't worry, I'll get it." Miroku teased as his friend desperately tried to remove his hands from the ceiling. "Hello?"

Inuyasha, clearly unable to get down without help, growled in frustration, watching his roommate pace back and forth below him. "Oh, hi Sango."

"Tell her to get off the phone! I'm waiting for a call!"

Miroku put his hand to their flip-top cordless. "Breath Inuyasha. That girlfriend hasn't called you since last April, from what you say. She's not going to call. Besides this sounds important." And he went back to talking.

Inuyasha suddenly felt his strength give way, going limp so that his body resembled the carcasses in meat packing warehouses. _Dumped…! _He slowly iterated in his mind.

_Du…d-d… dumped! Me! She's dumped me!_ His mouth hung loose and open, his eyes just as open in shock. He felt snubbed. And crappy. Crappy and snubbed. It was a lousy feeling, and suddenly he missed being anxious for her never to appear calls.

After a second or two, a deeper feeling crept over his thoughts and seeped into his flesh.

Lonely.

Kikyo was by far the only woman who would ever get close to him. Everyone else either felt superior to the half-breed, which he loathed greatly, or they pitied him, which he loathed even more. Being treated like he was something else, not someone else, as being dead without the chance at life. It was these types of things that made him hate his parents for breaching the gap between humans and demons. Yes, they might have been in love, but for a moment did they think about what happen to their child, what kind of obstacles he might face in the world?

_Of course they didn't._ he said to himself in his mind. _They died before they could worry._

He felt so angry, sad, lonely, annoyed, frustrated… just a mass conglomerate of all the negative stuff that could happen to him or had happened all melting him into silver haired mush. Just plain icky. His mind was on fire, or at least over it, thinking so fast.

_why._

_Why did I have to care about her?_

_How did this happen?_

_Did she ever care about me. Or was it for the social points?_

_It had to be the social points, that slime bitch._

_No, she wouldn't do that._

_Wait, yes she would. Like the time she said she was just doing charity because it would look good on her resume. Not because she wanted to. She did that, I know it!_

_Why did my parents act so stupid?_

_How am I supposed to go on?_

_Do I even go on after this?_

_Who would I dare go on with?_

_No one has treated me like a person, why should that change now?_

_Who._

_Who would dare._

_Who would I dare to care for._

_Why should I, the same will just happen again._

_No, no more of that._

_No more caring. No one has ever cared for me on any level, why should I to them?_

Miroku knocked Inuyasha in the head with the phone. "Hey, someone wants to talk to you."

"No." Was his reply.

Miroku stared at his oddly positioned friend. "Why, 'cause you can't hold the phone?"

"That, and I don't want to talk to anyone."

The black haired man rolled his eyes. "That isn't a reason, it's an excuse." Quickly, Miroku pulled up a wooden chair nearby and stood on the seat of it. "This should help the holding problem." He said, holding the phone up to Inuyasha's dog ear.

For a moment the phone was silent. Inuyasha heard gentle breathing on the other end, the type of hesitation, worry, as if trying to find the first word of a sentence lost in the drabble of the mind.

Finally, though, they spoke. "I… I'm sorry."

Feminine. Eighteen to twenty-three. Apologetic. Genuine, kind. "Who is the hell this?"

"It's Kagome Higurashi, idiot, who else?"

Inuyasha stuck out is jaw in irritation, bur let her speak. His hands were a little tied anyway.

"I want you to know that… I didn't do anything bad or sick or whatever you think I might have done on Halloween."

" Cept for getting me drunk."

"Well, yeah…"

" Publicly humiliating me."

"Debatable."

"Tricking me, dumping frogs in our room, a-"

"I said I'm sorry. I know that apologies to you are like water against a brick wall, but grow up already and at least recognize its existence. I'm just as much a person as you, and what I say does matter as much as what you say."

… _Ouch…_

The phone was silent again for a moment. Inuyasha listened intently, but the phone-waves didn't give off reverberating sound waves, so his hearing was at the same level of a human.

"Um… could you hand the phone back to Miroku?" Sango again.

"No please?"

"Don't push it, brick-head."

"Back to you." Inuyasha said sourly. Miroku complied, taking the phone back to his ear, brushing a hand through his hair out of anxiety.

What was it that the hanyo had just been thinking? That no one had treated like a person. And now some beautiful, brat girl was going to accuse him of the very same thing? _… What did I ever do to the kami, Buddha? What'd I do?_

_How about act like a stubborn jack-ass?"_

_Shut up, conscious_

Somehow, that remark from her stuck and hurt.More than he wanted to admit.

Miroku began pacing underneath Inuyasha's legs, suddenly breaking out in laughter at something said on the other side. "Yeah, that's true!"

"… flirt…" the hanyo said under his breath.

His fingernails suddenly gave way, and right as Miroku said yes to something, he was squished from above.

"GUH! ACK - GET- OFF!"

* * *

I hope to get the next chapter out soon. Note: I _hope_. Every time I make a promise on a deadline, it dies. So I say I hope, and then pray that the muses will throw me a bone on this one.

(Listening to Ayu- radio. Good j-pop. You can get to it here: http/ayumygoddess.free.fr/radio.php ) (just to let you know, lo esta en la idioma de espanol. -It's in Spanish-)


	9. Reason For This

A/N - So I updated a chapter for my other story the other day. I have yet to get a review. I guess that serves me right. Anyway, sorry for delay.

* * *

**Daibakuhatsu Daigkau**

**Chapter Nine**

**Reason for This

* * *

**

November 20, Friday, 6:37 PM

Hakodate, Japan.

Inuyasha growled at the shopping list in his hand, taking his coat hood off of his head as he entered the local grocery store. Ever since Miroku became his roommate, these lists had slowly been growing in length, and worsening in taste. In August, the main articles would have been ramen, milk, Irish whiskey, and batteries. But now some of the top things on the list were strange and disgusting, like butter mouth lettuce, pork flank, and durians. He didn't even know what the hell a durian was.

However, as he unzipped his long, gray-green coat and snagged a shopping cart, his stomach took a devastating turn upon looking at something at the bottom of the list. Red roses. _Ugh, you'd think he was a sappy gay guy if he wasn't such a pervert._

Apparently, his roommate was planning on attempting to woo the roommate of his nemesis with a whole lot of materialistic crap, wine, and then condoms. The first two parts **_might_** work, but when it came to Sango, Inuyasha doubted that last one would end on a kind note. Most likely Miroku would come home with a lump on his head and his voice imitating helium as an indication as to where her baseball bat has swung second.

_I guess it would serve him right. Not to mention it would kill the possibility of his offspring._

He headed down the first row of dry goods, stopping at the boxed rice area to look around. "Let's see… he said Mitsunyashio Rice…" He looked at the shelf. Not a single product had a name that long.

He slapped his hand to his face, letting it run down as if it were a drippy egg yolk. "It's rice, Miroku, rice! There is only so much complexity to this stuff!"

He walked to the other side of the row and scanned the area from top to bottom. Yes, there was in fact, nothing by the name of Mitsunyashio Rice. However, he was fairly glad that Hakodate was the most ethnically diverse city in the nation, since he decided to pick up a box of something called "Uncle Ben's" (_I'll translate that when I get back to the dorm_) that was cheap enough.

Inuyasha continued down the aisle, but there was nothing on the list that was also on the food stands. So he exited that row and went over into the next one.

Cereal group food. He cringed.

It just so happened that Miroku's favorite form of grains fell into this category, the type that was of the 'grain items that are technically grains but in reality are liquids' foodstuffs. Such as cream of wheat and oatmeal.

He started to take small baby steps into the aisle.

- - on the other side of the store - -

"Are you sure you want to try this recipe?…" Sango asked her friend incredulously as she handed her a spiny fruit.

"For the last time, I'm positive!" Kagome said in annoyance. "I keep telling you, grilled durians are good! Why don't you believe me!"

"Because she saw the end result of your kiwi cake." Rin chided.

"Hey, that would have been good if you hadn't kept turning up the heat and opening the oven door to warm up the dorm room."

"IT WAS NINE DEGREES CELCIUS!" Rin shot back, slamming her arms across her chest, making her nylon coat squeak from sleeve contact. "WE WERE MORE CONCERNED ABOUT FROSTBITE THAN A CAKE!"

Kagome blew a stray lock of hair off her face. "Excuses, excuses…" She pushed their cart further ahead than the rest of her friends in spite, but they caught up in a few seconds anyway. "Sango, what's next on the list?"

Sango looked at her notepad, riddled with little notes about upcoming due dates for college work. "Let's see… methinks oatmeal, okayu mix, and cereal. After that we head to ze dairy section, and then to the check out line."

"We might want to pick up some Christmas decorations on the way out too, before they're all sold out and stuff," Rin added.

"Okay," Kagome said, flicking that annoying bit of hair out of her line of vision. "But remember, it's just the holiday. Nothing religious."

Sango rolled her eyes. "Considering none of us are Christian…"

They headed into the cereals aisle.

And then quickly scampered out.

"INUYASHA?" Kagome hissed under breath, ducking her head as if it would make their conversation more private. "WHAT THE HELL IS HE DOING HERE?"

"Um, grocery shopping?" Rin suggested. "This is the closest supermarket to the dorm."

Kagome leered at her friend, hair spraying out like that of medusa. "I know that."

"Jeez, chill."

"Look, we'll just go to the dairy section first, and come back later, okay?" Sango put it. The other two nodded affirmatively.

- -

Inuyasha knew _that _scent. With a Christmas tune playing from the speakers above him, "Rockin' around the Christmas tree" he guessed as the title, he whipped his head around to the end of the aisle. Sure enough, a moment later, he watched three women zip by towards the dairy section.

This already wasn't a terribly wonderful day. He'd been sent here to do the grocery shopping, got spit on a couple dozen times on the way over, and now _she _was here.

He must have been Hitler in his past life.

Ducking his head and grumbling, he turned back to his cart and list. Maybe all of this stuff could be gotten later. Like most of the vegetables and stuff. That would all get frost bitten on the way back to the dorm. He quickly decided to snag the Christmas décor, and then get the hell out of there.

He rushed out of the aisle and over to the extraneous section.

Kagome pursed her lips as she stared at the milk section. All of the skim milk, which not only was fat-free but just so happened to be the cheapest milk, was completely out. There was even a little post it with a chibi figure on the rack saying "Sorry for the inconvenience, but we are out of stock of this item. Please come back tomorrow for it!"

She efficiently ripped up the annoying chibi.

Rin ran over to the cart from her task. "I got the eggs. I got a normal dozen size double A, since they were out of normal A."

"They are also out of skim milk," Kagome growled.

Rin gasped, her eyes wide with terror. She stepped back with her hands on her cheeks (after quickly placing the eggs in the shopping cart) . "No…" she wailed. "NOO! NOT THE SKIM! NOT POOR SKIMMY TOO!"

"I know, Rin," Kagome placed a hand on her chest, and tilted her head back to the heavens. "Skimmy… is gone until they restock."

"NO!…" Rin wailed again, placing the back of her hand to her forehead. "RESTOCKING IS THE SAME AS DEATH!"

Kagome rushed over to her friend and hugged her. "I know, but we still have each other!"

"Yes," Rin cried. "We still have each other! And together we can reach the stars!" She looked up to where the stars would be if there was not a roof there.

"Indeed!" Kagome agreed while nodding her head. "And we're not even lesbians!"

"Much to the dismay of the college idiot jocks!" Rin added.

Sango walked over with several tidbits of Christmas decorations. "What did I miss?"

Rin and Kagome looked at each other. "We deserve an award for that," Rin said, letting go of her friend and taking some of the holiday items.

Kagome nodded. "At least some eggnog. We can get that next week, though, so let's get out of here already."

Inuyasha looked at the seemingly random Christmas decorations on the store rack. He didn't know anything about this holiday; how was he supposed to decide on anything here! There were bags with gold, shiny, tinsel with little snowmen beads, some random plant in a bag called mistletoe (_what is that all about? Shouldn't that be in the produce section?_), another box filled with weird looking wrapping paper… this was insane. He would have had a better chance of getting stuff on the internet. At least that would give an explanation to things.

So, he did what the average, clueless man would do. He took a little bit of everything and rushed off to the checkout lines.

Without looking around, he rolled his cart into a line. He sighed in relief, his escape route in sight.

"Kagome, you said that we were going to go get the other stuff after we got the dairy!" A woman in front of him said.

"No, I said later, as in later tomorrow," Kagome answered.

Inuyasha's face dropped as if he put it on hot and it ran. "…_Shit…_"

The three women in front of him whirled around, and in unison screamed.

* * *

6:49 PM

Orthodox Christian Church, Hakodate, Japan

Miroku walked up the stairs to the basilica. As a part of his most recent research paper for World Culture and Military class, he was to go around the city and discover more about a place of foreign ethnic community. So here he stood, at the entrance Orthodox Christian Church, notebook in hand, and a lump in his stomach. The snow was bitterly cold against the back of his head, where his scarf could not reach, and it beckoned him to enter the building.

But he hesitated. Christians did not hold a very good relationship with demons, half demon, or anyone who was associated with them. And Miroku was the roommate of a half demon. He doubted that they would have his name down on some list of sinners or something (_at least in this country. In Europe I'd be dead before I could say Italia._) but one couldn't be too careful.

He took a step forward, leaving his footstep in the snow and walking upon the warm, granite stones, seeming to blow heat up from below. Nervously, he gripped the front door, and peaked inside.

On the opposing wall to the door, there appeared to be a large, copper and gold altar, lightened only by the small flicker of candlelight. From above, an old, light bulb chandelier hung from a chain hooked at the top of the building's dome roof. The light fixture was not only outdated, but dusty, and was in desperate need of repair and restoration.

For a moment he risked calling out to see if anyone was around. But the building seemed as if it were made of stained crystal; the smallest noise able to destroy it in a moment. He gently went inside and closed the door behind him.

He moved forward, gawking at the sheer paramount of beauty in orthodox art. Everything was covered in copper, in gold, but sadly as well, dust blanketed all. Beneath him was an antique Russian walk-guide carpet, a deep crimson red, as if it were a river of blood so deep that one eventually could not see the bottom river mud, the sides trimmed with vibrant silver and a Persian green.

"If you must walk into this sanctuary with snow on your shoes, " a deep thunderous voice called out. "Then please do not walk on the carpet. It is from the epoch of Peter the Great."

Miroku jumped off the rug and huddled against a pillar. "… Was that who they call god?"

A deep, bone rattling laugh filled the chamber, echoing off the walls, rebounding time and time again until all of the sound had vanished out through the windows. "No, my child!"

Miroku looked over at the golden arches which he had seen upon his entrance. At the center archway there were two, ornate, golden doors, only covering a total of two thirds of the door space, and out from behind a man came through. He wore a long, forest green preacher's gown, trimmed on the edges with a Slavic print, in red, silver, and gold. The mountainous man had a large, gray and white beard from his jaw, reaching down to his mid chest, and upon his head sat a massive, golden, orb-like crown, ornate in decoration, scenes from epic Christian battles painted upon it in mahogany, gold, and silver, wrapping around to the top, which bore the orthodox cross.

"I am but a speaker of his laws. And do not worry yourself over the rug; God does not punish those who do wrong in accident."

Miroku was slightly flabbergasted. He was used to the humble, serene presence of the Buddhist priests and Shinto divines of his home town, not the extended glory of this one single man, who seemed to glow in the small candle light. "I… um… I'm sorry, anyway…"

"It is fine, my son." The man slapped him across the back, that is, nearly made Miroku's lungs pop out. "The actual leaders of this church have ruined the rug anyway with their constant snow walking."

He had to chuckle at that. Partly because he laughed when he was nervous, and second he was worried what might happen to his organs if he didn't. Judging from that last blow, he'd be in the morning obituaries.

"What brings you here on this chilly day, my son?" the pastor said, placing a gentle, mammoth hand on Miroku's shoulder.

"Um, I was uh… Mr.…"

"You may call me Father Stepanov."

Miroku felt slightly ashamed. The least he could have done before coming was to find out the father's name. _Oh well… _ "Yes… I was wondering if it may be possible if I look… um… look around for a bit? You see, I am doing research on different cultures around the city, so…"

"You need not say anymore," Father Stepanov said, a gentle, fatherly smile slipping across his face. " Sister Valentina!"

A few moments later, a short woman, most obviously with a growth disorder, came running into the main room from a side alcove and looked up at the pastor. "Yes, dear father?" she asked.

"If you could, take this young man to the library. He is hear to learn about our ways of god. I would do so myself, but the next mass is to start in just a few minutes."

"Of course, my father. Come, brother…?"

"Oh, um, I'm not Christian. I'm just Miroku."

The woman smiled kindly. "That does not matter. If you are here, you are my brother, and I am your sister, brother Miroku. Please, come this way to the library."

* * *

6:58 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Inuyasha glared at the three women in front of him, who just so happened to be staring back at him in a rather fowl way. The cheery Christmas muzak in the background did not help the moment. It just made the whole thing seem stupid.

Which, of course, it was, but he wasn't about to recognize that right now. Maybe in an hour or two.

"When did all of you get ahead of me…?" He growled.

"When we pushed our cart in before yours, brick head," the figurate girl snapped. " Honestly, are you trying to have us fail out of college!"

That one threw him for a loop. Where did that topic come from? "Huh?"

The figurate girl sighed in aggravation. "I mean with your little skipping bonanza of the Hakodate club meetings! If you end up doing poorly on all of that stuff or don't show up, it affects your G.P.A. big time, dumb ass! They told you that on the second mass Meeting!"

He had known that. He really did. It was just that he had… slightly… forgotten that little tidbit in his war against her. In fact, didn't he have a paper that was due yesterday? Something about some old piece of history crap called the Yalta conference?… _thinks the History major…_ "Uh… yeah, I-I… knew that…"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Oh wow, so convincing…"

Inuyasha was going to let her verbally have it if it weren't for two things. One being an odd scent that he thought he knew for a moment, the second being a pair of eyes in the group of three before him that refused to stop glancing below his belt line.

"Can I help you?" he asked the hentai woman with a grin on his face, arching an eyebrow while setting his elbow down on the handle bar. The woman quickly shook her head and blushed, but refused to look away.

Kagome (_Oh yeah, that's her name_) looked at her friend, then to the staring spot, then back to her friend with a sharp hit on the back of the cranium. "RIN!"

"Give her some slack, she knows something good when she sees it," he said, staring proudly at the woman's obvious discomfort.

Kagome leered at him. "Quite, dog-boy."

While she promptly went back to scolding her friend, Inuyasha puffed at a bit of hair in front of his face and looked off at the aisles with a smirk on his face. He wasn't going to deny it to himself; at this point, hormones were in control of his brain. A hormonal coup, so to speak. " Oh, you know you want this…"

Without looking in his direction, she retorted with "About as much as I want a durian to fall on my head, ass."

Suddenly his ear perked up. "You know what a durian is? What is it! Miroku sent me to get some, and I had no clue!"

"Why didn't you just read the label?" Sango chided.

"Cause I didn't want to." he answered. "C'mon, what is it?"

Kagome took a deep breath, in much the similar way a baby sitter would when a child was being a brat. The whole 'think of the money, think of the money' mantra. It wasn't the first time he had seen that look.

She looked down in her cart and picked up what looked like a ticked off volleyball. "This spiny thing is a Durian. Native to south east Asia. Satisfied?"

"No. Give it to me."

Her jaw flew open. "WHAT DID YOU SAY!"

"Give it here. You know what they are; you can always go get another one."

"But _you_ are the one who needs it!" she shot back. "Besides, you've seen it now! Got get your own!"

"Oh c'mon," He said with that sly smile again. Clearly the hormone regime was still in full control. "You have two there. Just gimme one of the crazy sisters and I'll be good."

Kagome was getting close to breaking point. After all that he had done to her, insulted her, threatened her, squished her G.P.A. like a cockroach, he expected _her_ to simply **give** something? Was he serious! What happened to that cute little puppy dog in his apartment? Was that just a side effect of alcohol? If that was the case, she wished that he would stop the flip flop between death sticks and sake, since the later had better affects. He was already cute, it worked better when he acted that way too!

_Did I just think that?… I've been spending way too much time with Rin…_

"Kagome," Sango began, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Why don't you _give _him one?"

"SANGO, HAVE YOU LOST IT!"

"No. I said," She repeated with extreme emphasis. "Why don't you **_give_** him one."

Aha. Now she got it. "Oh, Sango, I guess you're right."

Inuyasha seemed clueless.

Kagome picked up the Durian in her hand, which just happened to be covered by her leather gloves. "I guess I _will _give him one."

"Sweet! Hand it over!"

Kagome smiled wickedly. That was his tip off. Or was supposed to be, but he didn't pay attention. "**HERE**_ you go!_"

She chucked the fruit straight at his face. Inuyasha quickly realized the projection of the fruit and stuck his hands up to catch it, but ended up getting his hands stuck by the Durian. "YEOW!"

Kagome stuck out her tongue at him.

He dropped the prickly fruit down in his basket and began to frantically wave his hands in pain. "Ah, jeez… you…!"

"Yes, me. So sue me."

"Tempting…" he muttered, looking over towards the aisles again to avoid looking at her royal bitchiness.

And the day turned darker. In an acrobatic and aeronautic feat, Inuyasha jumped over his cart, behind the three girls, crouched down and pulled his cart up behind their legs. "Hide me!" he hissed, grabbing onto their legs to keep them from looking behind their backs.

They were not what one might call pleased. "Inuyasha," Kagome hissed back. "What are you doing! Get back to your own cart!"

Suddenly she felt something slip into her hand. Slowly, she pulled it up to her face look at it. "Your credit card?"

" Listen, you can buy your crap and mine on that, okay! Just don't let me be seen!"

Kagome wasn't exactly sure how to react. Her first thought was to simply struggle out of his grasp and shove him to the floor. But then she remembered something else that changed her mind.

_She heard a small sigh from the other side of the phone, before some ruffling sounds and movement overwhelmed it. "Kagome, don't be so quick to judge, okay? Maybe he has a reason for being like this, huh? Ever think of that?"_

_Yuka…_

Kagome realigned herself, fixing her back straight and firm. "Let go, Inuyasha."

"No. You're supposed-"

"I said let go because you can't get into the bottom part of the cart holding onto our legs, and we can't move without them."

Sango and Rin turned to their friend in disbelief.

Inuyasha was in a slight bit of shock.

"And considering you only have a few things in your basket, I'll buy all of this. However you have to promise us on the way back to the university that you will clue us in on this whole deal."

Now this was plain weird. She'd lost it for sure. "What are you-?"

"Promise." It wasn't a request, it was an order, and he knew it.

Slowly he let go of their legs, and slid backwards into the bottom rack of the cart.

"Sango, Rin, quick, grab his stuff," Kagome ordered, jumping to his cart. The three girls snagged his items and threw them into their cart, shoving it out of the checkout line and into a vacant aisle opposite of the counter.

_I'm going to find out your reason for this, Inuyasha_. Kagome thought, smiling kindly as the register woman swiped her foodstuffs across the laser platform. _And maybe why you decided to turn to me instead of bolting…_

_I'm going to find out._

_

* * *

_

I actually listened to Russian Orthodox Chanting while writing that section of the chapter. It was amazingly calming, actually, even though I'm Buddhist. Heh, go figure.


	10. Le Fine

A/N - Waddya know, I updated in a relatively reasonable amount of time!… Yeah, the hell it was reasonable. I digress. The Chapter is down. (May all scanners die and burn…)

* * *

_**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**_

_**Chapter 10 **_

_**Le Fine**_

_(No, not the end)__**

* * *

**_

November 20, Friday, 7:04 PM

Hakodate, Japan.

The air outside the grocery store was icy and cold, the bitter heart of a Hakodate winter setting into full blast. After ushering Inuyasha out from under the cart, the four college students huddled off with their bags towards the waiting street car.

There weren't a good many people on it, considering the weather. Just a Nigerian woman driver, a handful of work commuters, a small group of teens in the back, close together for added warmth… that was about it. They moved towards the center of the car and took their seats.

Sango and Rin sat silently in their seat as the tram began to move forward, Inuyasha and Kagome in the other, scarves over their mouths, hoods hugging their heads. The half demon held his items in discomfort, knowing what it was that he was going to. After all, he promised her. Sure he had broken promises before: who hadn't in this world? But for some reason, breaking promises, twisting words, skipping into loop holes… it was all getting a little old.

Kagome hugged her bag with the milk inside, trying to keep it from freezing. "So…" she began, her scarf moving with her words, breath turning into white smoke through the cotton filter. " I keep trying to figure it out in my head."

"What?" he asked dubiously. He was expecting more of a 'So are you going to tell me about it?' shpeal. Those just got down right annoying after a while.

She swung her gloved fingers around between him and her. "This _it_. Since day one this relationship, I guess you could call it…" she laughed. "Makes it sound like we're a couple. Anyway… Since day one, this relationship has been like a cold war, crossing boiling point several times, and entering a recession at times, too. And then, after having a fight, my 'arch-nemesis', debatably, comes forth and asks me to hide him and protect him temporarily. And, in spite of what my brain tells me to do, I do shelter him, and even take up buying all of the items he originally came to the store for."

She sighed, letting her tired eyes close shut, welcoming the calm darkness with the snow blowing in through the open air window. "Something is telling me that these two things are related. I guess you could say my heart or soul say so, but that sounds phony, too sentimental. People stopped believing in sentiment a long time ago." She opened her eyes and turned her head to him. "So can you tell me why I feel like they are related? Why it is that I decided to help you instead of harm you. Why it is in the first place that you became a small child?"

He didn't like this. She was asking completely wrong questions. Way too strong questions. She should be acting like the normal, soap opera romantic girl and just be clinging onto him or something by now. Inuyasha inwardly hated using yet another loop hole, but his mind didn't care. "Hey, are you calling me immature! I'm no little kid!" He retorted in a huff.

Sango said something softly to Rin, who responded just as silent.

Kagome sighed. She tilted her head back to a its original position, pulling her legs in toward her chest and nesting the milk on her lap. "What am I to you, Inuyasha?"

Despite the cold, he became a little sweaty. He didn't like this. "H-huh?"

Her eyes almost seemed glazed over, resurrected only with each time she blinked. "I know you don't think I'm nothing because I'm a woman. I have seen the annoyed looks you give at the men who do. I'm not stupid; otherwise I wouldn't be in college. I didn't come from a rich or poor family, I didn't have sheltered childhood, and I know firsthand the ugliness of discrimination. I try not to be arrogant, impudent, ignorant, or apathetic, bur sometimes it happens anyway. No rose is without it's thorns, and vice-a-versa…" She blinked again. "So what am I to you? A soulless doll from the Hakodate club? A chance to add to the gene pool? Nothing?"

She was frightening him. More than anything had before in his life. Her questions, her words, her theory… they were all things that had also been produced by his mind, but negatively. Her words weren't optimistic, but they weren't full of woe.

_They're real. Simply real._ "You're nothing to me." He lied. It had taken everything in him to do so. He began to search his coat for a pack of cigarettes.

She breathed in deeply, letting the air out of her lungs in a way of disappointment. "Then why did you hide behind _me_?"

_Shit, double crap, damn it, f-_

"There was an aisle right across the way that was open. You could have gone in there."

He opened his mouth to talk.

"Stop lying. It gets old after three months." She said in a monotone.

He stared at her , a ghastly look upon his face. Every wall was torn down, every weak spot struck, every lock met with it's matching key. She had him now against his final wall, and he could not run away this time. No mouse holes. No sewer drains. No doors. His mind and soul were naked, unarmed, shivering in the cold of wither, it's shelter torn down. All that was left for him was to face the cold outside the wall. To face the truth

He scrunched up his face in annoyance. "You… y…"

She did not look at him, or look away. She just kept staring forward at her milk.

He sighed. _Every war must end, as Miroku would say_. "You have warm eyes."

Kagome scrunched her eye brows. Sango and Rin, ever the eaves droppers, got funny looks on their faces. The other eaves droppers in the seats around them were equally confused.

Kagome tuned to face him. For that one moment, he could not breath. "What?"

"You…" he gulped. "You have warm… eyes…"

"I got that part. I just don't get how that is a part of this current conversation."

_Neither do we. _Rin and Sango thought in unison. They looked at each other with a freaked out eye.

Inuyasha took a ragged breath, trying to gain some self composure. His pride was still fighting the battle. "The… the reason I hid behind you… was because there was… a person… who doesn't have warm eyes."

"Again, no comprendo."

"Kikyo is a woman who looks almost exactly like you in the physical form, but she is cold. Her eyes… they're like ice. They're dead." He said in a low mumble. "I… I figured out, not too long ago… that she had dumped me. She never told me. About any distress in our relationship… about the other guy she was there with, or… anything. She just stopped saying anything… period."

_Well Yuka, you were right…_ Kagome thought to herself. _There was a reason behind this all._

"I guess… that makes sense…" She said after an uncanny pause. Boy did she feel awkward now. It most likely hurt him a lot, having to explain all of that, having to go into each detail of the bullet wound. _Not to mention that it's **Inuyasha** whose talking here… his ego must be in a shambles, too._

"I kept my end of the deal." He said.

Kagome looked over at him, but he had already looked away. He had his hand holding his chin, his face gazing out the window at the growing blizzard of ice and snow. _He doesn't want to talk anymore…_

The street car hit a bump as it turned a corner.

It was over. The war between her and him, the misunderstandings, and unfortunately, the talking.

"When's your birthday?"

**That** just about scared the living daylights out of her. He talked! It wasn't some amazing spectacle or anything; a total of three words, and all, but still! Kagome didn't think that he would so much as even stand to be in the same country that she was in from now on.

She attempted to read his face for intention, but it was still blank, in contemplation. "Why do you want to know?"

Without moving his head, he looked at her with an annoyed stare. "What other reason is there for asking about someone's birthday than the reason you're thinking about right now?"

_Good point._ " Um… December twenty-third."

He scoffed at the number. "You must get a hard time about how close it is to Christmas."

She nodded, huddling again around her milk. "You have no idea." she felt the plastic carton on her lap. Gently she tapped on it's surface, then almost pounding on it before sighing. "Aw, crap, I'm going to have to thaw the milk out again."

* * *

7:17 PM

Kichinkyo building, Women's Dormitory

Miroku was kind of having a déjà vu feeling, sitting outside of a locked dorm room, a mail carrier case of stuff at his side, and a mental clock going nuts. Except this time, he was waiting outside of Sango's apartment instead, and wasn't planning on moving in.

Well, technically he wasn't planning on it right at this _moment_.

The various sounds of feminine talking down the hall served as his wake up call. He pushed up with his hands to get a better view of the stairway and its travelers, and sure enough, it was Sango and her little posse. He stood up quickly and leaned against the door frame, unbuttoning the top two buttons of his royal purple shirt, and placed his wrist in a position to mimic the 'checking the time' scheme. Other men would be completely confused about this behavior, and other things that he did in the open. For example, why he might stare, armed with a red and black sharpie, at male fashion magazine that were on top of an average women's 'must drool over' list. Or women's porn, or other things of the like. It made men wonder if he was truly the biggest perv on the campus or not. Inuyasha was the first one to ask about this in their early days of roommate-hood. The answer was simple:

Studying. By observing all of those different poses, reading so many of those different types articles that other men would vomit after reading the first paragraph (which he was tempted to from time to time), and then adding all of his knowledge of previous excursions and from his tactician and psychology classes, he could get the best effect. In short, he could get a woman to either A: be turned on by his presence, B: imagine him naked instantly and begin blushing beyond belief, or C: be drawn to him like dieters to cheesecake.

So he adjusted his smile just a bit when she came into the hall, tensed his bent leg, and all of the rest of his lecherous arts at the walking women.

"Oh, sorry for keeping you waiting Miroku," Sango started, eyes glued to her groceries which were getting close to tearing her hand off. Or at least felt like it.

"Oh, that's okay." he said in response.

She glanced up…

And instantly jumped behind Kagome, hands cradling her blood-pouring nose. Kagome stared at her friend in annoyance. "What is this: National Hide Behind Kagome Day!"

"Shut up…" her friend grumbled in response, taking small glances at the estrogen prompting testosterone mass before her. Sango was certain that an egg would fry on her forehead at this point.

"Honestly! I can understand Inuyasha, but you too?" She looked up, and then looked back her friend. "Ah."

"Yes, ah is right."

Kagome flapped her hand from side to side. "Hey Miroku. You can open the door; it's unlocked. Geez, its hot out here."

He nodded and turned around, gently turning the doorknob and pushing the door open. _That's ironic_.

Kagome and Sango quickly rushed in, throwing some of their items into the minifrig, others onto the stack of open air goods on the T.V., and a few others into the small microwave perched on top of the cabinets. The other woman was also now in the room, but she was just standing behind Sango's desk staring at him. A total of a meter away.

He smirked on the inside. "Yes?"

She burst out in red blush as she was knocked back into reality. "Huh?"

"Rin!" Kagome called. " Would you mind giving me the frozen dinners? I have to put them in the flower basket outside, you know!"

Rin was back on earth. "Oh, sorry!" she rushed over to the others, "Here, I think…"

_Kagome, Sango, and Rin, examples A, B, and C, respectively._ Miroku walked into the room , sitting down in one of the desk chairs and leaning back. He liked to call this pose the 'No imagination needed' position. Sango was the first to look back at him, probably to just get another bag of foodstuffs, but then whirled around. "oh… _SHIT!_" She yelled in frustration.

One of the best things about knowing all of these poses, he discovered, (assuming he stayed in the Pg-13 area. Anything higher could give some interesting repercussions) was that because of their innocent, everyday positions that a person might be in, no one could ask him to change his posture or anything, trying not to be rude. Unless of course he was with a demon hater who knew about his roommate, who would tell him to move anyway.

"Something wrong, Sango?" He asked innocently.

She turned around, her eyes clamped shut. "No, no, I just… I just have something in my eye, that's all." She said, slowly taking steps over his way, her hand outstretched to him. "Can, I, um… look at the culture project information, please?"

"Oh, yeah, hold on. Lemme get it." He said, standing up and then bending down to get the stuff. He stood up again, whipped around and stepped towards her. "Here you-"

This time it was an accident. Her hand was now in a spot that it was **not** supposed to be. Or feel, for that matter.

"AAAGH! MIROKU!"

"WHAT! IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!"

"OH _SURE_ IT WAS!"

* * *

7:38 PM

"Sango, c'mon, it was an accident, let it go." Kagome said, stirring her pot full of noodles on the floors' stove.

Miroku shook his head, moving the ice pack on the side of his face with it. "You guys, I don't think she cares."

Sango sat on the opposite side of the room, sprinkling sacred sand over her hand and mumbling . With a book on exorcism open.

"Or still capable of surviving outside of a mental clinic." Rin added. "Though I can't exactly blame her for that, el senor de commando."

Miroku shrugged. "So sue me. Most guys have gone commando at least once in their life."

Rin, rolling that over a few times in her head, slowly let the drool flow from her lips. "Whoa… Kagome, think of this: Gusega Mokosuma, the modern day Brad Pitt, commando style!"

Sango was suddenly out of her trance, snapping her creepy book shut. "You have my attention."

Rin snickered it. "Hee hee, I know… I'm just thinking of it…"

Miroku scoffed. "Hmph. And they say that guys are perverted?"

"And you're not!" the women of the room shot back.

Awkward silence.

…

…(cricket chirping)…

…

"Um…" Miroku scratched his neckline. "Who is Brad Pitt anyway?"

"All I know is that he's some old, fat guy governing the state of Califorma." Rin said chastising. "Right Kagome?"

No response. It was like talking to a brick wall. With hair.

"Kagome? You there?"

"Hm? What?"

Rin tilted her head to one side. "I was asking if Brad Pitt was the governor of Califorma?"

Kagome sighed. "It's called CaliforNia. South California, in fact: I think it just spit not too long ago…" She touched her chopsticks to her lips. "Anyway, yeah, I suppose he still is, unless he was the one that got assassinated a while back."

Sango snorted. "Um, no… that was the President, President Taylor."

Her roommate smiled. "Oh, that's right. Sorry, I kind of got hypnotized by these noodles…"

Her friends brushed off the odd behavior. Kagome let some of the air stuck in her lungs out in one massive blow, setting her stirring utensils back in the broth and twirling them around endlessly.

For some reason, deep in her mind, something was working wrong, because it seemed that there was just a small little hum of music, playing only to her ears, only for her ears. It was so soft, gentle, delicately beautiful, but so soft it could not be fully deciphered. She felt a little sad by this, standing there, stirring her dinner like a whirlpool of squid water, silver prairies glistening themselves over her eyes.

_His shirt had the kana on it that read "Wolf Clan", which was obviously one of the clubs on campus. There were many different clubs here, including nearly a hundred for specific types of demon. Thus meaning that this man was a wolf demon._

_And rather... attractive... and kind (from what she had so far seen)... and looked like he would be a great person to be with... and provider... not to mention protector..._

_And yet.._

_Perhaps it isn't some mirage…_ She thought.

_She heard a small sigh from the other side of the phone, before some ruffling sounds and movement overwhelmed it. "Kagome, don't be so quick to judge, okay? Maybe he has a reason for being like this, huh? Ever think of that?"_

_Maybe Yuka was right…_

_Inuyasha somewhat rolled over, his face turning in towards her stomach. "You smell nice."_

_Perhaps_

_"You have warm… eyes…"_

_He deserves another chance._ She said to herself. The mental music grew in volume. "Okay, dinner's done. Le fine."

**

* * *

**

…

Um…

I'm not sure anyone is reading this anymore…

Maybe tis time to get a new screen name and story.

Whatever. I'm sweeeee-py. Tis 1:32 PM, and I have a mountain load of work for a report due in less than twenty four hours… ugh


	11. Have a Merry Christmas

-1A/N - I was planning to release this on my birthday, but I kind of got held up by the dumb computer. Somehow I feel that I need to offer a live squirrel to get this thing to work for more than three days. Aiyaa…

(p.s. - muchas gracias for the positive reviews. I read every one of them, which might make me insane.)

* * *

**Daibakuhatsu Daigaku**

**Chapter 11**

**Have a Merry Christmas**

* * *

December 5, Saturday, 5:54 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Kichinkyo Building, Women's dormitory

Kagome didn't really want to pay attention to Yuka gabbing mindlessly with her roommates over some new poster right now. She really didn't. With antique, old Christmas songs playing from her Thumb-U, the latest in music technology, and watching the massive blizzard bury Hakodate in meters of icy snow, it wasn't a wonder why. Yuka, down in Okinawa, spending oodles of time with her new boyfriend, who apparently was "The hottest, Hawaiian surfer this side of the pacific,' (she rolled her eyes), was really getting into the commercialism form of Christmas, having most of her shopping done already for everyone she knew. It all seemed very frivolous to Hakodate freshman.

She didn't hold anything against her Tokyo friend. It was just that being all alone in one's dorm room, listening to a now late singer belting out a melancholy tune, she felt lonely. Miroku had gone off again and was attempting to take Sango on some sort of shopping gala, Rin was getting ready in her dorm to head back to Seoul for the holidays, since the campus would shut down in a week due to the snow until New Years was over, and Ayame was 're-educating' Koga about cheating on people. _Numerous_ people, apparently. _Men…_

So all she was really able to muster was a small and calm "Uh-huh." and "Really?" every now and then to make sure her friend knew Kagome was still among the living. At least it gave her something to nod off to, beside her music and all.

She swung around in her chair every now and then, her warming blanket occasionally getting caught under the desk chair rollers. Her eyes lingered on a websites' report on the Moscow pandemic and Cascadia regional civil tension.

"It's because of things like this," she said openly, smilingly to the vast reality of space rather than herself. "That makes more people atheist."

"Whazzat?" Yuka asked.

"Nothing, just talking to myself. Anyway, Kakali was doing what in your politics class?'

"Oh yeah!" her friend swung around in her own desk chair, watching Ayumi and Eri jumping up and down to the semi-blaring music. "He actually kicked a guy who said that humans weren't animals!"

"Oh yes, because we all have leaves." Kagome rolled her eyes. She had heard enough of _this_ argument made by the conservatives around the country. Then again, the liberals weren't doing much better in her mind, both calling for the banning of all foreigners and demons from the country. Politics didn't make much sense anymore: how could you choose between parties that only wanted power, and didn't give a care about how they got it? "How is it that people go off saying that?"

"Well, I think they argue stuff about civilization and culture and stuff like that."

"They just don't like being called feral, even though they are."

"Kagome, you're not going to go off again on this are you?"

She sighed. "No… I've let out so much steam over the past few months that I'm out of water to boil."

Yuka chuckled on the other side before calming and taking a more serious tone. "Well, I just hope you didn't let out so much steam to let _that_ out…"

"Don't worry," Kagome said softly. "I'm not that dumb."

"I know. It's just a lot of people would love to hurt you for-"

"You think I haven't realized that yet?"

Yuka fell silent for a moment, searching for a way to continue or give up on this phone call. She knew that she had ran right into _that_ brick wall, so to speak. Some lines just weren't meant to be crossed. "Um… I think I'd better go now. Eri is beckoning me to assist her in her mid term paper." She lied.

Kagome nodded, knowing very well that her friend couldn't see it. "Okay, do good on it."

"Take care."

The phone was silent.

Kagome placed the phone back in it's receiver, slowly turning her chair to face her empty room.

It really wasn't empty. There were all sorts of things in the small, three meter by three meter room, including the beginnings of holiday decorations. Her bed, covered in layer after layer of comforter, her stack of home movies next to it, Sango's stuff, the TV., the refrigerator. There was a lot in there.

But it was emotionally empty. Ever since she had gotten off that tram so many days ago, everything seemed like it was in a daze. She caught herself nodding off into day dreams, losing attention in what people said, just everything. All it seemed she wanted to do was listen to that small bit of music playing in her mind, sit back, and watch the silvery snow pelt the earth .

_Funny._ She thought to herself, sitting down on her bed while fiddling with her clothes. _All I ever want to look at anymore are silver things…_

She looked down at the stacked movie discs that she had brought along with her to remember home. Maybe watching one would wake her back up to the world?

Slowly she picked up the one entitled "First Christmas", and slid it into the movie player.

* * *

December 12, Saturday, 9:23 AM

Dasunoshi building, Men's Dormitory.

Inuyasha awoke torpidly to the sound of his roommate playing upbeat Christmas music, the smell of an actual breakfast flowering in his nose. Ah, the power of demonic senses.

"I smell…" He paused for a second. "EGGS!"

That got him up.

The half demon bolted out of his bed, kicking over his lamp in the process (_Aw, shit_) before almost knocking down his door to get to the food. He lunged into the kitchen and was about to jump at the platter of scrambled eggs being placed on the small table, which was rare in this dorm room, until he saw a look he didn't like to see on Miroku's face. It was a devilish smirk. As in "There is a _reason_ I'm this happy." smirk, which usually winded up being very perverted.

Or detrimental to his physical and mental health.

"What's that look for?" Inuyasha asked, only now realizing that his night shirt was on backwards.

"Oh…" Miroku flipped a cooking omelet over in beat with the holiday tune playing. "…No reason. Eat your food before the rats get it."

" I'm not buying that innocent act. Besides, we had a **frog** (shiver) problem a month or so ago, not rats, moron." he shot back.

Miroku tried to close his mouth and put on a lax face, but the smile just kept popping out. "Well, would you believe me if I said I was happy that this is the last day of classes until campus is shut down, and that it's a _Monday_, ironically?"

"Try again. Saturday."

"I got a new playboy magazine."

"Those come at the start of the month."

"You should know, Senor Bay-watch."

"Shut up. Besides, Bay-watch was cancelled a few days ago. Is this food a bio hazard?" Inuyasha asked, desperately trying to keep down his salivation. It had been a while since he had eggs. Especially scrambled eggs.

Miroku flipped his egg lamella onto his plate and began slicing and stacking it accordingly. "No. I wouldn't be eating any then." he looked out the window. "It's so nice to see the sun now and then…"

Inuyasha watched his roommate grab a cup of orange juice and sit down at the table with a sharp eye, watching him hum along with the song. He tilted his head in wonder, at the smallest possibility that maybe… it couldn't be…

"Did you…" he began, trying to get the words out. "… ask out Sango?"

"So, your beyond the 'I don't know their names thing', huh?"

"HOLY CRAP!" Inuyasha jumped back, pointing his finger straight at Miroku. "SHE ACTUALLY SAID YES! TO YOU! THE KING PERV IN HOKKAIDO?"

- - -

9:32 AM

Kichinkyo building, Women's Dormitory

"YOU ACTUALLY SAID YES! TO HIM? THE KING PERV IN HOKKAIDO!" Kagome all but screamed. Sango held her deeply blushing face down low, but slowly nodded , biting on her lower lip.

"I- WH- HO- WHE- HE- YO- DO-… **_HUH_**!"

Ayame nodded in confusion. "You do realize that he's probably been with more women than Koga has times five."

Koga looked up from his work of helping Rin close her traveling bags. "I said I was sorry at least fifty times by now! When are you gonna let that go?"

This got the attention of the whole female clan. Where one was left open, the others would defend. They were like a pack of animals. "Don't push it." they growled in unison.

The wolf demon made a mental note to himself. _Be careful what one thoust say, dumb-ass._

"Erm…" Rin waved her hand in front of his face. "Actually, do push it. I gotta get this suitcase closed before noon, or I'll miss my flight."

He sighed. "Whatever…"

Kagome and the others were now back on the original subject. "Sango… don't take us wrong, I mean, we're all for you and Miroku but… how did it happen?"

"I dunno!" she said in a genuine voice, swinging her legs back and forth, sweating hands seemingly choking each other. "We were just walking and he just, out of the blue, asked! And before I could stop myself, I said yes, and…" She slammed her face into Kagome's bed covers. "Ugh… this is frappy crappy."

Rin poked her head in the open doorway. "Isn't frappy crappy a cappuccino flavor?"

The women in the room gave Rin a very disturbed look. She shrank back into the hallway. "Sheesh, breath…"

* * *

December 23, Thursday, 8:34 PM

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

Kagome didn't think that her first Christmas away from home was going to be like this. It didn't really didn't have that much of strong presence or anything, considering A. She wasn't Christian, and B. she wasn't some wacko creepy person who liked to celebrate all holidays simply to attain material goods. She wasn't like that, or at least hoped she wasn't.

But Christmas was supposed to be such a romantic time, a time to be with friends, family, and the one that she cared about deeply.

Now here she was, covered in layer after layer of comforters, blankets, and parkas, sipping her small mug of hot chocolate while watching a fuzzy television set flicker a sappy season show. Rin was back in Seoul, Sango was off with Miroku, and her family was back in Tokyo, with the weather getting so strong now that out of district calls were prohibited. The internet was still up and running, which was nice, but not right now.

All over the JIBC, the Japanese Information Broadcasting Company, signs of federal censoring were taking hold. Yesterday there was an update about the Avian Flu pandemic gripping Moscow. Today there wasn't. Reports on the government of Japan became overly positive when not too long ago they were critical at every point. Suddenly the Cascadia Civil War in the United States was gone as well.

That wasn't all either. Now and again she'd swear that she heard clicking on the other side of a telephone call, especially when the other person was of foreign or demon descent. Radio stations were beginning to play a constant of propaganda, and one by one, journalists were being locked up. Kagome was lucky; she had signed up to a proxy server in Montreal and a backup one in Manila. It was because of this that she was even able to make a comparison to note the information gap. But it was very disturbing to read the foreign reports of actions in Japan now.

Apparently in Kagoshima several days ago there was a protest against the Over-Declaration. From the JIBC, the riot was ended peacefully with protestors realizing the declarations' usefulness. According to Canada, seventy-three people were shot dead, two hundred were arrested, and the whole Kagoshima Prefecture was placed under a curfew from seven o'clock AM to nine-thirty PM. The JIBC told of how a local man in Morioka was given the honor of the royal emblem for his services to the country. From the Philippines one would learn that those services were the mass-murder of reformists around the district. And from the last time she spoke with her mother, she found out that Sota had been suspended from school for wearing un-patriotic clothing. It was an Australian soccer jersey under his uniform.

She was alone in a gray room covered in perky red and white lights, cold, and running only on a chocolate high. She just wanted someone to be there with her. Talk with her, tell her it was all going to be okay in the end, help her remember why she was wasting her time trying to make her own future when others higher up were slowly plucking it away from existence.

Her cell phone rang, flat out knocking her out of her chair from shock.

Kagome poked her head above the chair to see if the phone would ring again, which it did. In a frantic hurry she tried to undo the massive knots of cloth tied all around her, making a kind of hop over to where the phone lay.

"Hold on, hold on!" she called, only afterwards realizing she was talking to a piece of plastic. "Whatever."

Finally the last parka slipped off and she bolted for the phone. "Hello!"

"That seemed like a rather frantic greeting." Inuyasha.

"Sorry, I was, um… having a domestic quarrel with my blankets."

Inuyasha tapped his fingers on the kitchen counter, his face right in front of the toaster. He was waiting for the staple of his dinner to pop out already. "Thinking of a divorce?"

Kagome now realized why she had those blankets over her. The room was freezing! "M-maybe."

Inuyasha thought about that response for a second. The usual would be either A. No, it's a blanket, baka. Or B. Oh yes, it's about time for him to get out of here. Never a maybe. He shrugged and glanced over at the light-pc screen. "Guess what I just found out?"

"What?" Kagome said, rushing back over to her mound of warmth.

"Apparently you have the same birthday as the old Emperor Akihito, December twenty-third."

"Does that make me royalty?" She had to say it.

"In your dreams, Higurashi." So did he, apparently.

There was a clicking sound over the line.

"Hey, Inuyasha, did you hear that?"

"The click?" he asked back.

Kagome felt a little relieved. "Looks like I wasn't just imagining it. I've been hearing all of these clicks on the phone recently, and I-"

"It's wire tapped." He said in a monotone.

"No duh."

"I've had my phone tapped since the start of the year. How do you think those guys who called you hanyo humper found out how you traipsed me back to my dorm room at Halloween?"

Kagome gasped in the frigid night air. "What! How did- You were- but I-'

"You have issues with finishing sentences."

"Oh, shut up!" Kagome suddenly didn't feel so alone anymore. For all she knew there was a camera in her room watching her. "It's just, well, I mean… well, how did you find out about it?"

"Rin to Sango to Miroku to me."

_I'm going to hurt you once you get back from Korea, Rin. _"Okaay…" She suddenly felt very wary as to what it was that she was doing. Each way that she moved, turning up the TV, fiddling with her clothing… she felt almost sticky. She didn't know why. It made no sense to feel sticky, but she did. She just wanted to jump into a shower and scrub all of the stickiness off of her skin, so she wouldn't keep sticking to everything. "How did they find out about my excursion in the beginning?"

Inuyasha sighed, rubbing his forehead in disgust. "My but you are naïve."

"Heh heh, keep telling yourself that."

"You are a member of the Hakodate club, correct?"

Kagome let her eyes drop half closed. "No matter how many times that has been attempted to be reversed."

"Can you say approximately how many other clubs there are on campus or are shared with other campuses, off hand?"

"I dunno, maybe…two hundred?"

"Now make a guess as to how many of those are against demons, pro-reformists, and things of the like?"

Kagome was starting to get the point. "Maybe twenty."

"Out of this many, take a guess at how many are funded by the government."

"Five." She knew that one for certain. Old Kaede had taught her about it

"Now what makes you think that the government isn't willing to give those groups information and pay for silence on and against 'enemies of the government' in return for our abuse? For example, that little spat outside of Kichinkyo at the beginning of the year with the jocks who refused to listen to women."

Whoa. She wasn't expecting _that_ to be a part of this. "Really? That was a part of this?"

"There is a club called 'Return Men to Supremacy' or the RMP. It's a secret club in the mainstream of the sports area. Why do you think that the Football team has the initials of RMP on their jackets, besides being the **R**aging **M**ob of **S**quid, changed from two years ago, the Raging Squid?"

Kagome was now officially freaked out. The whole merry season was not so merry anymore. "Holy crap…" Ching sound. " GAH! What was that!"

"That was my dinner finishing up." Inuyasha said, letting the toast cool before grabbing it.

"It sounded like a toaster chime."

"It was."

"Ah."

"And while we are on the subject," Inuyasha began, " I know all about the phone call Miroku made on Halloween."

"Oh, eh-heh…" initially, Kagome felt a wee bit ashamed and embarrassed until she remembered the missing link in the phone message that was left. "Hold it, how did he know I was there? I know for a FACT that neither Rin, Sango, or Ayame spilled the beans on that matter."

"Of course they didn't." He started spreading a mixture of mirin, butter, and cinnamon on his toast.

"I know."

"He saw it all."

As if _that _made sense. After staring at her cell phone for a moment with a quizzical look, Kagome put it back up to her ear. "Huh!"

"There were cameras in the dorm at that point, and he figured out how to rig them to his cell phone to constantly see what was going on. At that time we both knew about them, but didn't know how to get rid of them. Now they are a big bunch of powder at the bottom of the trash compactor."

"That's rather… creepy." She ringed her fingers through her hair. "How did you get rid of them? Eh, and… um… how did you find out about them in the first place?"

"Well," Inuyasha flopped the now marinated piece of toast onto a skillet with three other pieces of the stuff. "Since Miroku is a student of military tactics, he has the strong interest of the government for the use of his 'skills', they could be called. Anyway, one day in September while researching current military actions, he stumbled across a website that had to do with a surveillance program. So he did a little bit more investigation and hacking and discovered that anyone that had any recorded ideals against the over-declaration, for reform, democracy, etc., had a little tag on their name. He found both his name and mine, and when he clicked on it, he got a live video stream of the back of his head searching on the computer."

"Yikes."

"As to getting rid of it, We basically just got a metal detector and a floor plan of our dorm and kept sweeping and sweeping until we got each one. At least we think so. It's impossible to get to the website now, even through a proxy server."

"Um…" Kagome looked over towards Sango's box of sentimental stuffs. "Be right back. I think my Christmas cake is on fire."

"Guess you can't cook either, huh?"

"Shut up." she tossed the phone on the bed, but didn't care. She had bigger fish to fry.

Kagome remembered that during her chat with Sango on her first night there that her father had apparently been sickly and ill for a while. She also remembered Sango telling her about the time that the family was down at the beach in the Ryukus and her father lost a medical injector; a small, metal vassal that every hour pushed a serum into his body to keep his liver working, and how they ended up having to use a metal detector from a nearby shopkeeper to locate it. She kept the detector in case if ever happened again, but now mainly kept it for sentimental reasons, primarily since it was one of the last times the whole family was together, her mother divorcing her father not long after.

So now she scoured through the box labeled "Sentimental", tossing out several odd, moldy, and possibly living specimens of Sango's past before getting to the large, clunky detector. It was somewhat shabby and pathetic, being one of the folding ones from twelve years ago, but it clicked on with a gentle hum, beeping over the small tin of her fathers candied gifts.

"Okay…" Kagome whirled it around in the air, facing the opposite wall with a face similar to a military commanders'. "Let's play search and destroy instead of hide and seek, eh?"

She began to sweep. Nothing major on the floor except for a tack she almost stepped on (_That was close…_). The closet side of the room was clear too. Her bed side, the window wall, the door frame, around the computers, the ceiling, all nothing.

Until a sudden sparkle caught her eye. She walked over to her small, hand-held mirror, starring at the small bit of red on the rim. She had assumed that it was just dried blood from the time she got a bloody nose back in November. But now she saw a little bump in the red that normally wouldn't be there, being the size of a grain of rice. Using her fingernail she scratched at it, and off came a small, black dot, landing soundlessly on her desk. When she went to pick it up, she just about screamed when it popped out three, mechanical legs, and began to make it's way towards her computer.

She grabbed hold of her math textbook and began smashing at the little bugger. It squealed after the first hit, but kept moving. She hit it again, and it squealed again. She grabbed a hold of her steel paper weight and rammed it on top of the little beast, effectively crushing it.

She sighed, and fell back on her desk chair.

But there was suddenly movement around her desk.

Another of the exact same kind of mechanical bug popped out of her keyboard and crawled over to the remnants. Than another from her computer speaker. One dropping down from the cob-web above the desk. She yelped as one shot out of her watch and helicoptered over to ground zero.

There had to be dozens of them, all quickly repairing the one that had been killed to go back in service.

Unfortunately for them, Kagome Higurashi was a woman of action.

Kagome growled before launching her paperweight at the whole lot, squishing them into small bits and pieces. But as soon as they were dead, more popped out from even more places and started to fix the bugs, even from underneath her door.

After what seemed to be ten minutes, Kagome, in a huff, killed the last one apparently in the building, since there was now a pile of mechanical bug bits as large as her text-book.

This was terribly scary. If the government had been watching everyone like this, and apparently for a long time, considering Inuyasha's and Miroku's reference, what else were they doing, or planning? Immediately she shut down her computer and TV. She unscrewed several of the bits from the cable box and took off the bottom, and sure enough, found a small chip and transmitter beeping furiously on top of an outgoing wire. She took it and crushed it.

Next up was her movie disc and bit player. She did a similar processes that she had done for her cable box and killed the bug in there. She did the same thing again and again with her telephone, answering machine, digital organizer, keyboard, scanner, digital camera, and even the light switch, finding bugs of various shapes and sizes in each one. Then she unhooked her computer from the wires, and picked off the small, gold plates that lined each one, finding the original connection underneath. Finally she booted up her computer in safe mode and used every last bit of anti-spy ware, malware, adware, virus, trojan, data worm, and UAP (unauthorized program) that she had, making sure that the computer was only hooked up to the power strip. Only a half hour before she didn't have a single bit of bad stuffs. Now the results were in the hundreds.

The lights flickered. Not normally, though. They were lighting in a pattern, over and over again, as if some symbol. Frantically she jumped up on her desk and, with the metal detector, began to hack at the light fixture. After several hits, it cracked open and fell to the floor, the light bulbs cracked, then exploding all over. Kagome stood in shock as she watched little bugs fall down from the light socket, endlessly it seemed, onto her floor.

"WHY WON'T YOU DIE, DAMMIT!"She roared in frustration, jumping up and down on the bugs as she could. Her stomach was beginning to hurt from her exuberance, giving way a warm and sharp pain. The bugs quickly ran back up to the sockets and re-created the light bulbs.

Inuyasha was humming pretend hold music to himself as he flipped the last piece of mirin bread.

Kagome gripped her stomach. It was hurting so badly, so sharp that she was going numb. Her legs gave way, and she fell down on the bugs, each slowly crawling over her, nestling her flesh, some trying to burrow in.

Her eyes faded into darkness.

But an instant later a sudden blast of light shook her awake.

The pain was gone now. Slowly she stood up and looked around. The mechanical bugs lay in a massive, burnt heap, purple smoke resonating from their parts.

"what… was that?…"

The room was quiet. Slowly she walked over to the light switch and turned off the overhead light, instead taking in the night in the light of the blinking Christmas decorations. Her computer sat frozen in cyber space, screen black blank. She picked back up her cell phone and sat in her desk chair, pressing the power button on the television remote. It was amazingly clear now. "I'm back." She said in a rasp.

"Did you set the dormitory on fire or something?"

"No…" She sighed at the simplicity of his question. One would think that she was having a little more than just cooking problems after being away for twenty minutes, wouldn't they?

"I just did a sweep." she said.

"Hm?"

"There were spying bugs everywhere. Even in the light switch… I just killed them all."

There was a pause on the other side of the line.

"…okay…" he finally said, his voice very dubious.

"If you don't believe me, for one, go back and think about all of those bugs you found in your room, and two, if that's not enough for you, you can come and take my pile of dead, smoked, bug bits."

Inuyasha set his plate of dinner food down on the coffee table in the main room, listening to the faint sound of a Christmas movie playing from her side of the phone. "… I guess the government doesn't like you either."

"That's not a very promising thing to say, or hear really." He heard on the other line.

"But it's true." he picked up a piece of his toast. "they don't like me because I'm a half demon, and are against you because… of… I dunno, maybe your last name?"

"How about pro-acceptance stance?"

"That's one." he stated. "I've gotten used to no one liking me though. It must be odd for someone like you though." she said nonchalantly.

For some reason, Kagome felt a small bit of blush rise to her cheeks. "Does that mean that you like me?"

"NO!" Oh shit, he hadn't been paying attention. Inuyasha was mentally rolling around on the ground in a furor over his stupid slip-up.

"So you dislike me?"

"No, I mean, yes, I mean-" He clinched his eyebrows, making a clawing motion with his hands. What was up with him all of the sudden? And what was with this wacko conversation? "Well… I don't _hate_ you or anything…"

"I repeat, so you dislike me?"

He gulped." I don't, um…" Ah, that's why he was acting weird. She had pushed him into a mental corner again. _Damn her.._. "I don't dislike… you."

"Good." He heard. "And not everyone dislikes you."

"Keh." He scoffed. "Try pulling that one on me when I'm drunk, neh?" he took a bit of his dinner in his mouth. If he didn't eat it soon the mirin bread might develop frost.

"Well, I don't dislike you."

Inuyasha just about coughed up the bread right then and there.

Kagome slowly pulled her legs up to her chest, listening to Inuyasha hacking out his lungs on the other side. Odds were that he was over-reacting again, so there was nothing to worry about.

She slowly let her eyes fall down in gaze towards the large pile of ash on the floor, the smoke beginning to dissipate. She had never felt so… _ashamed_, perhaps? Yes, that was the feeling. Ashamed that she had never noticed anything that wasn't acting right in her room, (no matter how impossible she knew it would have been) for not putting two and two together, but most of all, ashamed for once being a Japanese patriot. Now after this, knowing that officials had been listening to her conversations, watching her change clothes, tracking her internet movements… She was very shaken in both confidence and hope.

"Perhaps…" she said slowly, in such a low voice that Inuyasha could not detect it through the cell phone. "I should look into this matter… a bit more…"

Hold on. Something just hit her.

The cell phone.

They must of heard this whole conversation.

"Inuyasha…?"

"I wasn't embarrassed! No, I didn't, I mean- I didn't care- well, I do care, but not in the way you think- no wait, I mean-"

"Chill dog-boy." She commanded in a strict monotone.

The half demon was rather exasperated. For one, he just got the use of his trachea back, which was, in all honesty, a good thing. But that one simple little remark that she had said… That made almost have his whole brain short circuit. In nuclear proportions. "Chill! CHILL! You say something like THAT and you expect me to CHILL!"

Kagome let her eyelids drop half closed. _He's losing it._

"I mean, do you have any idea what you just-"

"DID YOU THINK ABOUT THE FACT THAT THIS ENTIRE CONVERSATION IS BEING TAPPED, AHO!"

Hrm, she said she liked him, now she's calling him a retarded, moronic, bigot-insect. Interesting.

"THEY CAN'T TAP CELL PHONES UNLESS THEY AREN'T OPTIC CHARGED, WENCH!"

_What is with this guy?1 Does he have multiple personalities or something! _"WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!"

"A WENCH, WENCH!"

Something told her that this was going to keep going for a while.

- - -

10:49 PM

And it did.

Kagome sat on the floor of her dorm room, her mass assortment of warming items thrown in every direction, glaring intensely at her cell phone. She had no idea how someone could be that incompetent, on her birthday no less. Although it was understandable (being Inuyasha, of all people), it wasn't excusable by his recent break-up with Kikyo or whatever her name was, and other crap that had gone on in his life. It all just went down hill when she complemented him. COMPLEMENTED! That usually wasn't something to go wacko-loco over. _Of course, then again,_ she thought to herself, angrily switching the TV channel. _It **is** Inuyasha…_

She brought the phone back to her ear. "…AND I'LL TELL YOU SOMETHING ELSE, LITTLE MISS…" Ah, still at it. Gently she took a nearby pillow and covered the hand held menace.

So now, here she was again at square one. No family, no friends, no happy Christmas music or shows (the movie went off a while earlier. The JIBC nightly news was on now), no _real_ food, no trust in her country, the whole shebang. The only thing that she had gained over the past few hours was a working heater, which didn't really do much since she tossed the robo crap out the window.

The room was silent, apart from the muffled screaming of a hanyo who sounded like his ears got run over.

That was one of the most annoying things of all. Instead of having a peaceful silence to let her contemplate on what she had been saying, thinking, and doing, as well as her current situation (apparently being a target for government interest) , she had mullen fog of lacking sound, echoing in the desperate screams of rage and arrogance. Not even that little bit of music that played in her mind from time to time could make a way into her ears.

Kagome stood up, kicking the pillow and phone out of her path towards the radio. She heard Inuyasha yelling something to the extent of "_ARE YOU LISTENING! HEY, HIGURASHI-BAKA!…"_.

She paused and gazed at the little, plastic phone. Kagome gently let out a delve of air, twisting the nob on her radio.

"_ZZZT- -hat was one of my favorite tunes too, played by the Russian orchestra of Moscow._" the DJ announced.

Kagome stood with and stared at it with a blank face.

"_But now we are going to play one of the all time best from this time of year, a version that was made over thirty years ago. It goes… a little something… like this…"_

"Very original saying." She rolled her eyes.

- -

Inuyasha huffed hard through his open mouth, dared to pull the phone way from his ear and glare at it. Why wasn't she responding at all? Ignoring him, neh? _Two can play at that form of game, higu-"_

"_Have yourself a merry little Christmas,"_

He stopped huffing.

"_Let your heart be light,"_

Kagome fell down on her knees. She just felt plain awful, about everything.

"_From now on our troubles will be out of sight."_

Here she was completely alone on her birthday, fighting with someone. Fighting with someone she knew under the right circumstances was perfectly nice, and even cute, to an extent. Not only that, but so far her only birthday present was a heaping load of real life spy ware! And the only person who apparently remembered her birthday was in fact the same person that she had been fighting with.

The music played on, her own heart matching the pulse of the bitter sweet melody. She was in the middle of the worst blizzard that any Kami could have ever mustered, bleaching the whole world around her from it's color, joy, and individuality. Her room was a shambles, decorated to the brim with lights celebrating a holiday no one believed in, clothing and blankets everywhere , bits and pieces of food dotting the ground for which she now kneeled upon.

Kagome felt her lungs start to breath harder. Her grades were fine, but who really liked grades in the first place? They were only numbers, only numbers representing what someone else thought of her. And yet she and others decided to give themselves the right to complain over and over again about how bad they were doing or different teachers when there were other people on the campus who she knew did better art than she but got a worse grade based solely on their species.

_"From now on our troubles will be miles away."_

She'd been harassed, attacked, verbally abused, and simply put band-aid on top of band-aid until she felt like she was sinking in an endless sea of adhesive and anti-bacterial cream. Even now, she felt like she could feel the remnants of each bandage on her skin, making everything bad stick to her no matter what she did.

"_Through the years we all will be together_,"

"No…" Her elbows buckled in towards her sides, her hands beginning to rub her skin in a frenzy to get the imaginary dirt off. "Get off… **Get off**…"

Her breathing suddenly jumped to a peak rate of marathon runners as she bent her head back and screamed. "**GET OFF, DAMN IT!**"

"Kagome?" Inuyasha called over the phone. "KAGOME?"

Kagome slumped to the ground, clawing at her skin, ripping off pieces of clothing to try and get at the inevitable ticks that her mind told her were sinking in through the imaginary band-aids. "GET OFF!" Tears started to form in her eyes. "GET OFF! GET OFF! GET OFF!"

"_If the fates… allow,"_

She started to thrash about the room, knocking over whatever she could, crunching each crumb, trying to get away from the parkas as sweat beaded on her skin. "GET OFF! **GET OFF!"**

"KAGOME! WHAT IS IT? KAGOME!"

"_Hang a shining star upon-"_

_"_GET OFF, YOU DMAN BUGS! WHAT DO I HAVE TO DO TO GET RID OF YOU?"

"KAGOME! KAGOME!"

"-_the highest bough…"_

She was still. Her clothes were all on one side of the room, herself up against the doorway, sobbing into her hands. "I don't want this anymore…"

"KAGOME! WHAT'S WRONG?"

"_And have yourself a merry little Christmas now…"_

"I came here for the wrong reason…" She said to herself, hugging each shoulder in the firmest grip she could muster. " I came because I wanted to get away from Tokyo, but Tokyo followed me here…" She bent her head down into her arms. "…and I can't even tell anyone _that_… I'm so alone…"

"KAGOME! I'M HERE! WHAT IS IT!" she heard Inuyasha yell through the tossed phone.

"_Oh have yourself…"_

_"_What…?"

"I'M RIGHT HER KAGOME!" she heard. "IT'S INUYASHA! WHAT IS IT? ARE YOU OKAY! WHAT-"

She speed crawled over to the phone, quickly placing it up to her ear. "It's okay, it's oky, I'm fine."

"What the hell happened!" He sounded distressed, but relieved. " All the sudden you started yelling , and I-"

"It's nothing…" She said gingerly, moving a stray lock of hair back behind her ear.

"_A merry little Christmas now…"_

"I was just being a little crazy I guess. Thanks for being there, though."

* * *

A/N - Geez this was long.

One word : symbolism.

think this is done? Half-way? Mwohohoho… nope. Not by a long shot.


	12. …And a Happy New Year?

-A/N - So I have finally gotten off my lazy butt and finished this chapter. After rewriting how many times! Rrg… Sorry for the long wait. Next chapter should get up soon if I am to meet my deadline.

_Daibakuhatsu Daigaku_

_Chapter 12_

…_And a Happy New Year? _

Friday, December 3, 9:49 AM

Hakodate, Japan

Kichinkyo Building, Women's dormitory

"What…?" Kagome didn't even try to stop small tears from sliding their way down her cheeks, stinging harshly against her cheeks. "…S…Sunset Corp…?"

Hushed silence fell over the other side of the phone. Kagome's mother taking in a ragged, desperate breath. "…yes…," She sighed gently over the phone. "We both know it won't be long now."

Slowly slipping down against the door of the floor bathroom, Kagome gasped for a breath to quell the severe ache now stripping down the strength of her heart. With each inch she slipped down, her heart slipped equally, deeper into anguish and darkness. "Y-yeah," She sniffed at her nose, rubbing her eyes with the sleeve of her light blue sweater. "Maybe a few months…"

"We'll find a way to get you at the end of the school year, unless something else happens…"

"Wait…" Kagome suddenly came to a terrible realization. To a full realization of what her mother and family was doing.

Leaving.

"You mean…! But what about Ji-chan! He can't go through that with his age! And Sota will loose all of his friends! And you-"

"I know, dear." Her mother said in a gentle but definitive tone. "But at least by taking this risk, we'll have a chance at staying out of a labor camp. If we stay in Tokyo much longer, we'll be arrested."

Kagome knew this was true. But truth is often a very bitter thing. "I know, but, leaving the country-!"

"Shshhh…" her mother said over her cell phone, her eyes slowly becoming moist.

"Mama!" Kagome griped her cell phone tightly to her ear, gripping the handle of the door up above her for some sort of support. "I don't want you all to die! I'll be all alone! Please, don't so this!"

"Shshhh…" Her mother took hold of her phone with two hands, her heart in pain to know of what she was putting her own daughter through. "Shshhh…. It's okay, Kagome… It's okay…"

"…Mama…"

"I'm holding you right now, Kagome," Ms. Higurashi cooed softly. " We're both under the Goshinboku. I'm hugging you."

Kagome clinched her eyes shut, trying to keep her voice to speak. "I-I'm… I'm hugging you too."

"It's spring time. The tree blossoms are falling down around us."

"Sota i-is coming up the shrine steps… h-he's carrying his soccer ball with him…"

Ms. Higurashi breathed out hard, a beading tear slipping out of her eye. " F-father is mumbling something new about a cursed well…"

Kagome managed a small, choked laugh at that. Her grandfather was always doing that. "A-and my father is there, and he's saying something about the stock exchange…"

"You didn't forget to watch any of the home movies, did you."

"N-not one…" Kagome sighed, wiping her wet cheeks with her wet sleeve. "Is Sota awake?"

"Yes, hold on…"

Kagome waited for a moment for the phone to be handed over to her younger brother. She didn't ever think that this would ever happen, that this curse would come back to haunt all of them. She should have foreseen it; especially with what had happened last night. However, government bugging systems were on a different level than this. With the government, she and her family could get stuff done about it behind the scenes. But that wasn't the same with this now…

"S-sis?"

"Hi Sota!" Kagome knew he was crying just as much as she was by the tone in his voice. Normally she might say something about him acting like a man, but it didn't really matter at this point.

"A-aren't you c-c-coming with us too? You can't stay in Hokkaido-"

"Yeah, I'm coming. I just have to wait a little bit before I leave, that's all. Otherwise e-everything could go wrong."

Her brother managed a choked sound of accordance.

"…I do love you Sota."

"I love you too, Kagome."

"… Can I talk with Ji-chan?…"

Sota cried but laughed simultaneously. "No, he's s-still asleep. We had to carry him out here."

Kagome did laugh at that. "Okay… take care, buddy, okay?"

"Yeah."

"You gotta be strong for everyone now. Be the man you are."

"O-okay…" he sniffed in a childish way.

_Hold on to your innocence, brother… _Kagome swallowed hard, trying to regain control over herself. "Can I talk to Mom now?"

The phone quickly changed hands.

"Kagome?"

"…Y-Yeah…?"

Her mother was silent for a moment. "I need you to promise me that you will always have someone you can trust with you until you're back with us, okay? Don't ever let yourself be alone."

"I-I know." These might just be the last words she ever said to her family. Kagome knew, after being trained for this her whole life, that she would have to one day take this leap of chance. But she never imagined how much her heart would snap and shatter when it actually happened. "You'd better go now…"

"Yes… I love you, Kagome."

"I love you too, Mama."

She turned off her phone.

Now she was on her own.

_For five months… I have to stay for five months. Stay safe for five months. Stay sane and silent for just five more months…_

Sango was still asleep in her room, knocked out by the massive hangover from Miroku's date, for which Kagome had yet to attain the information about. She wouldn't be much help right now.

Silver locks flicked across her mind and eyes.

_I guess he is the best option right now…_

She stood up, slowly carrying herself over to the sink and turning on the warm water. Kagome dipped her hands under the stream of liquid comfort, shuddering as the heat radiated through her body. Lifting her face up to look at herself through the mirror, Kagome began to splash the water over her face, desperate to get rid of the evidence of her pain. She had to be an actress now. She had to be strong. But most of all, she couldn't afford to be alone. And a half-demon protector might just be her only chance of survival.

She stared at her reflection. _Inuyasha is… an awkward friend, I suppose…_ she thought, wringing her sleeves of her tears. _…maybe more…_

"…If I ever get to see him after all of this… I'm going to have to apologize…"

---

10: 31 AM

Hakodate University Cafeteria

Inuyasha watched with wary eyes as his roommate entered the all but deserted campus cafeteria, whistling to himself as he reached for a tray. He briskly walked down the small counter, piling portions of the cold, nutritionally meager food onto a paper plate, and with a small leap snagged an apple from a bowl on a higher shelf. Egg glop plopped on with merriment, rubbery sausages bounced on with glee, for all he needed now was a very merry Christmas Tree!

Or Mistletoe.

Or disgusting magazines.

Or something much worse.

He eased down into a chair next to Inuyasha , kicked his feet back on a nearby seat, and stretched his arms out behind his head. "Man, it's nice in here when there is only a few people…" he said with a beaming smile plastered on his face like it had been hot glued on.

"What did you A: do, B: Drink, C: Snuff, D: Smoke, or E: All of the above last night/ early this morning?" Inuyasha asked wryly.

Miroku opened his mouth in fake shock. "Me? You think **_I_** might abuse drugs of some sort?"

"No, I have no doubt in my mind that you would, and do. I'm worried as to what you might have done while under the influence of those drugs."

Miroku smiled slyly, waving his hand at his friend. "Don't worry Inuyasha, all I had was Sake last night."

This half demon was not convinced. There was something else. Besides, it was Miroku: he was BOUND to do something dirty/ illegal. It was an unwritten law. "That's just it. You did something, Miroku, and I'm going to find out what."

"I'm telling you, I have done nothing wrong!"

Inuyasha leered at him. "Did you put plastic frogs in my underwear drawer again…?"

Miroku rocked back in his chair with laughter, all of the way to the point that he had to shoot forward to keep from making the chair fall over. "Aww man, that was a classic…"

"IT WAS NOT!" Inuyasha shot up and slammed his fist on the table. "NOW SPILL; WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

"I've done nothing." he said incredulously.

"How about giving Sango a hangover?"

Both Miroku and Inuyasha shrieked and jumped a meter or two away from their current positions, flaying backwards and flipping over another chair and table, respectively.

Kagome rolled her eyes. "Sheesh, some half demon; can't even hear someone walking up to him…"

Inuyasha's ears twitched. At this point in time, everything that had happened last night was pushed aside for later retribution. "What was that…?"

"Nothing. Just me being a jerk." Kagome said calmly, a small smile escaping her lips as she sat down at the two men's table looking over at the counter with food. "Hrm… maybe I should get something to eat…"

"Sango has a ha-hangover?" Miroku might have been a pervert, but he was not a dumb pervert. "Um… How is-"

"I'd suggest you'd hide a good four hours prior to her sober hood."

Inuyasha stood up slowly, staring at Kagome intently. _What the…?_

Miroku gulped, bringing his chair back up from the floor and taking a seat. "How bad did it get?"

"Well when she finally got in at three-thirty," Glare. "She started vomiting and then rambling about a wonderful/dismal date and snow mobiles and pink bunny rabbits."

"Kagome," Inuyasha said intently. " You're hair looks funky."

Miroku slapped his forehead.

Kagome sighed and clawed at her well groomed hair. "I suppose I'll have to get a new shampoo then."

"Hey Kagome," the half demon began. "I'm thinking of giving people cigars for New Years. Want one?"

Miroku's eyes bulged as big as dinner plates. "YOU'RE WHAT!"

"No thanks, but I appreciate the offer." Kagome scratched her neckline nervously, fraying small strands of her sweater. "Um, I'm going to get some food."

Miroku waited until after the woman had left before he whirled around at his roommate in a frenzy. "WHAT, ARE YOU NUTS? CIGARS! DOWN PLAYING HER HAIR! DO YOU HAVE A SUICIDE WISH!"

Inuyasha leered down. _Gotta change the subject… quick, quick… quick, dammit!… ah- ha! _ "Ironic you're saying that after what you did to Sango."

"E-uh-errr…" Miroku's open mouth slowly slid shut.

- - -

8: 52 PM

Dasunoshi Building, Men's Dormitory

Inuyasha knew something wasn't right with Kagome. After knowing her for only five months, he still knew a good bit, and that she would never back down from a fight. Especially with him. The whole episode with finding a ton of government bugs in her room… that was something that she would have gotten a bit more wary and doubtful of things, most likely trying to have something done about it behind the scenes.

He sat at the kitchen table, staring at his lap top light screen, his stomach growling, his mind racking. _Maybe something I said?… Should I apolo-_

He interrupted that thought with a violent shake of his head. Since when did he think of sentimental things like that? Since when did he care if something like that was his fault?

_Since a few weeks ago, baka._

_Shut up, brain._

_You don't use me all that often. Maybe if you listened every now and again, things would turn out better, neh?_

_I said shut up._

_You thought shut up. _

_No, I said-!…_ Inuyasha made a funny face._ Am I really having a conversation with myself?_

_Yep_.

"GAAAAAAAAAAH!" Inuyasha kicked back away from the table, overturning his chair and having his head crack soundly against the linoleum floor. "… ow…"

Miroku popped his head in the room. "Got a concussion?"

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "I'm a half demon."

"That's not an answer."

"That's; I'm a half **demon**, as in I don't get concussions."

"Feeling prickly, are we?" Miroku raised an eyebrow. "Would that have to do with you racking your brain over the little New Years' gift you got from a certain human?" he said it so very nonchalantly that Inuyasha might not have noticed the small, thin present Miroku had slowly raised into sight.

"Huh?"

Miroku leaned against the door frame, turning the gift, gilded in red and gold paper, over and again in his hands. "Yes, this gift just so happened to be slipped through the mail slot while you were in the bathroom…" he leered slyly over at his roommate. "Wanna take a guess as to who sent it?"

Inuyasha already knew Kagome had sent it; it emanated with her fragrant scent. But, being slightly uplifted by the gift, he decided to humor Miroku a little. "Um… Rin."

"Nope. Try again."

"How about… Kaede?"

That sent disturbing thoughts through Miroku's perverse mind. "Ugh, I'm glad I'm saying no. Keep trying."

"Oh, I know. Sango must have sent me an adult toy."

Miroku's grin faded. "And they call me a pervert. No," he flicked the gift over at his roommate. "It's from Higurashi Kagome, baka."

Inuyasha caught the gift in his right hand, secretly taking in a deep whiff of her scent.

"Don't open it till midnight; we still have to clean this place up."

"No, you do." Inuyasha said, laying the gift on his chest and shutting his eyes, setting his hands behind his head. "I'm not a very religious person. You knock yourself out with Buddhist stuff."

Inuyasha opened one eye to give an arrogant look at his friend, only to discover that Miroku had swiped the small package. "HEY!"

"For one, the new year celebration is a Shinto practice, not Buddhist. And if you're not going to recognize it's existence as a holiday, then you won't get anything affiliated with it. You want your present, you have to work for it."

Inuyasha growled as he pushed himself off the floor. "Slave driver…"

- -

9:34 PM

"MIROKU, WHY AM I DOING ALL THE CLEANING!" Inuyasha roared, shoving his cob-web covered broom angrily at the perverted college student. "YOU'VE BARELY DONE ANYTHING AT ALL!"

Miroku, sitting comfortably on the couch with a small barrage of New Year's gifts on his lap, smiled impudently. "I did my share of the work earlier; all that is left is for you."

"THE HELL YOU DID ANY WORK!" Inuyasha pointed at the floor with his broom. "THE DISHES ARE EVERYWHERE, THE LAUNDRY BASKET IS OVER FLOWING, AND THE BATHROOM SMELLS LIKE DEVIL SPAWN! JUST WHAT DID YOU DO!"

"For your information," Miroku responded calmly. "I just so happened to have cleaned half the dishes and put them back in their places, the dark load is in the washing machine down the hall, and you were the one who used the bathroom last."

"NU-UH!"

"Yu-huh." Miroku waved his hand at the cupboard across the room. "Take a look for yourself."

Inuyasha marched over to the other side of the room to where the cupboard, sink and mini fridge were, yanking open one of the cabinet doors and whirling around. "SEE! IT'S EMPTY!"

"You didn't even look inside, Inuyasha. Either that or you did, but you just desperately need to see an eye doctor."

The half demon turned around and, sure enough, there was approximately half of the plates and bowls. He stared at it for a moment before grumbling and stalking down the hallway with his broom, kicking the satchel of white clothes on his way.

- - -

11: 20 PM

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

Sango twirled her ramen around and round in circles, glaring at the community oven on the girl's floor. She wasn't acting impatient for the meat that was cooking inside the device. Oh no. She was far too cunning for that. She knew that being upset at an inanimate object would only temporarily make her feel better until she lashed out and realized that she would have to pay for damages.

However, mortals on the other hand… they did not come with a damages contract.

"Miroku, you slimy, disgusting, selfish, lecherous, sickening, son of a-"

Beep! Food was done.

Sango snorted and blew some of her bangs away from her face, shifting her weight in her rolling chair so the wheels turned towards the kitchen appliance. Slipping on the brown oven-mitts on the counter, she yanked open the door and latched onto the small glass cooking dish, pulling it out and dumping it on the stove top. "Kagome!" She called down the vacant dorm hallway. "The beef is done! Don't Forget the Laptop!"

"Okay!" Kagome called back, a fake smile on her face. From the funny look Ayame was giving her, she knew that it wasn't convincing enough. _I guess my acting is a little rusty…_

Kagome grabbed onto the bag holding some plastic plates, cups, and chop sticks in one hand, her other hand grasping the jug of commercial green tea. She slowly attempted to put the jug into her other hand and reach for Sango's new lap top, but Ayame grabbed it first, "I'll take this, okay?"

Kagome nodded. "Yeah, thanks."

"I don't think Sango's father would be very happy if he had to go out and get a replacement new years' gift for her so soon."

-

11: 23 PM

Dasunoshi Building, Men's Dormitory

Inuyasha peered over his shoulder at his roommate. Yep, Miroku was officially entranced with the Baywatch Season Two movie set that his step-father sent him. _Creepy family… At least it's happy though._

He slowly slinked out of the main room and began quietly making his way down the hallway. The gift for him was being 'guarded' (_Sheesh)_ in Miroku's room until after cleaning was done and after midnight. Well, it was… _close_ to Midnight… technically. New Years was a little less than an hour… _So, I **could **just round up to twelve o'clock and say it's midnight… Then there is nothing wrong with me opening the present._ He thought, the door to Miroku's room creaking open.

Inuyasha looked around the somewhat clean room for a moment before glimpsing the small gift on Miroku's desk. _Ah, the power of loopholes. _

Taking a small glimpse over his shoulder to double check he wasn't followed, Inuyasha snatched the parcel up in his hands. He turned it over from one side to another, childishly guessing as to what was inside. _It's too small for a book or anything, unless it was all on one piece of paper. Maybe it's some yen; that would be nice and helpful. Yen is something' I can't say no to. Or maybe cigarettes? No, she's already ticked that I smoke in the first place…_

Inuyasha's face screwed up. _When was the last time I smoked anyway…? Oh well, whatever. Let's see what's in here…_

He lifted up the gift wrapping paper and popped open the small plastic container underneath it. He tipped the small container over above his hand, so it's contents would spill out into it, shaking it a bit to get the item dislodged.

Two, jet black chopsticks plunked onto his hand.

His jaw went slack.

- - -

11: 26 PM

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

Kagome stood in a daze, butchers knife in hand, slowly slicing thin pieces of beef to be used in the new years' ramen.

This wasn't normal. At home, Christmas was often celebrated, but it was mainly just to get everyone hyped for the real stuff. For New Years. This was when you were with family, watched all of the festivals and caravans of people walking down the street with costumes on, prayers at the temples, cleaning the house drunk (a specialty of her uncle), and giving pretty packets with money in them to happy children. She'd make the traditional rice cakes, but she couldn't get a hold of any rice. Or most other types of food: The entire district of Hokkaido had pretty much shut down now because of the encroaching snow.

_At New years…_ Kagome slowly turned her head around, looking the image on the lap top screen of Rin talking away on the web cam, her friends all huddled around the computer, blankets over their shoulders, hot mugs of the green tea in their hands. _… You aren't supposed to be scared. Of weather, or politics, or plague… just… anything. It's time for joy…_

She dumped the small pieces of meat into the bowls of ramen, grabbing all of the chopsticks on the counter and dumping them on the tray with the food. _…And this isn't joy…_

"Okay," Kagome said, her back still away from her friends so she could get a believable face on in time. "It's time for ramen!"

"Ooh, yay, yummy food," Sango said feverishly, scooting over in her chair to let her friend in at the table. She quickly took a bowl and pair of chopsticks and took a taste. "**_Ooooooooooooh… WARM yummy food…"_**

"Let the drool fest begin!" Ayame called out, shooting her hand up in the air in glee. After a moment it caught a draft and zipped right back under the blanket. "Before my drool freezes."

Rin gave an odd look over the web cam. "Ew… That's gross Ayame."

Ayame, with a big slurp of her ramen, sat up tall and proud in her chair. "At _least_ I'm honest."

"Selectively honest." Rin retorted.

"Oh shut up."

Kagome clapped her hands together and grabbed a hold of her chopsticks. "Either way, let's eat up!"

"Yesh." Sango said, her mouth half full of a beef slice. "Ah, Ayame, how's you're re-education of Koga going?"

"Would be better if he hadn't been flirting with some little brat in the dorm lounge."

Kagome snickered, along with the other girls, but slowed to speak. "Maybe you're misinterpreting what he's doing. I mean, we all know he's a flirt, but it's playful. Not like Miroku's-"

"May he rot in hell," Sango chimed in before taking a swig of her tea.

_Note to self; warn Miroku not to leave dorm for the next thirty-six hours. _Kagome thought. _p.s. Remind him to CALL Sango in the next thirty-six hours._ "um… ukay…" She cleared her throat. "Not like Miroku's lechery…"

Sango slammed her cup down on the table. "That disgusting, vile, debilitating, abysmal, infuriating little maggot!"

"This sounds promising on the dirt scale," Rin smiled, leaning closer over he keyboard. "Do tell."

Sango's eyes were down, glaring at her bowl of food, a slight growl audible from her throat. "Bloody jack-ass asks me out on a date, takes me on some fairy tale romantic dinner place with all the works and then he slips concentrated sake into my soda just to-" Her hands gripped at her scalp. "AAARGH!"

"Eh?" Kagome didn't recall that part. "He slipped sake into your drink? When did I miss this detail?" She asked, pushing away a memory of her uncle.

"I dunno…" Sango said. "I might not have added last time you asked me. I was still in a hangover state."

"Hrm. Good point." Kagome looked at her friend, trying to think of some sort of explanation. Miroku for one wasn't so low as to drug a woman like that. He may be a lecher, but he wasn't a creep. Not only that, but before she scared the hell out of him this morning, he seemed perfectly happy and fine about the situation. No worries or doubts… This was not adding up.

But that would have to wait.

"Aack! Kagome!" Rin yelled through her computer, her face slightly flushed. " I just remembered! BBC News comes on in a minute!"

_That's right!_ Kagome would have stood from her seat from adrenaline if it were not too cold to do so. _Rin is in the Korean Union! They have freedom of the press! _"Oh , thanks Rin! Will you turn the web cam on your T.V. when it comes on?"

"Sure, it should be any minute now." Rin looked away from the camera for a second, shouting something in Korean to someone not in view. "Sorry mother was calling for cold gel. I'll get it to her right after the news starts."

"Cold gel?" Ayame asked after swallowing a bite of ramen. "Isn't that used for burns?"

"Er, more like for my mother's bunions."

A resonant ew echoed around the table.

"Oh that's nothing!" Rin exclaimed. " My Father has-"

Ayame put her hand up to the web cam on the lap top. "Please Rin, we're still eating."

"Oh, heh heh, sorry." Rin looked off the screen again and yelled some more. "Okay, the news is starting. I gotta go get my mom her stuff." Rin said, turning her web cam at the family television.

"Whoa." Sango said. "Nice T.V."

"Tis super plasma." Ayame added.

Kagome leered at her two friends. "Shh." They returned to their food and watching the computer screen.

"Good evening, I'm Jeong Chin-mae for BBC news in Busan, K.U." The News anchor said in a news anchor tone, dressed in a usual button down shirt, tie and jacket.

"That's a fun name to say, Jeong." Ayame said randomly. "Jeong, Jeong…"

"That's his last name Aya. Shh." Kagome was getting a little annoyed now.

"At the top of this news hour, we have some startling news from the United States of America, where our correspondent Buk-Jul Shin is stationed in the city of New York. Shin, can you tell us what is going on there?"

The t.v. shot switched to a Korean woman, standing in front of what appeared to be some sort of park or plaza with a lot of tall buildings in the background. "Thanks Chin-mae. As you all know by now, the Cascadian civil war has now been raging in the States' northwest region for several months now, and the capitol of the defacto nation, Seattle, has been under heavy barrage from government forces based in the states of Montana and Wyoming."

"For our viewers," Chin-mae's voice came over the set. "Can you roughly tell us where Montana and Wyoming are?"

"Yes, Chin." She said, clicking a small receiver in her hand. A map popped up of the country, zooming in on the western sect of it. "Now this region in blue spans from the northern parts of the state of California, shown in green, taking in all of the states of Oregon, Washington, and Idaho, some parts of Montana, and up into Canada a good fifty miles north of Vancouver; that all is the Cascadian Region. The rest of Montana and Wyoming are shown in red." The colors came up accordingly on the map. "It should also be noted that most of all of this land is rugged mountains terrain, which is why some of the generals involved in the Afghani-American War are also assigned to this whole ordeal. However-"

"Shin, I hate to interrupt you, but there is more pressing news to get to our viewers. Now what is this massive change in the whole ordeal?" Chin-mae asked.

Making a very small disgruntled sound, Shin continued on. "That is the main reason I have this map up, Chin." The map zoomed way out, all of the way to the midway isle chain and the Aleutians. "We have now officially gotten word that Cascadia is not the only region fighting for independence now."

Kagome's mouth slightly opened in shock.

"The BBC has received official documents of cession from the now defacto nations of Alaska, Hawaii, and Texas. It is also highly suspected that the states of Louisiana, Arizona, Maine, Florida, and California are moving in the same direction, with the state-union of Missouri and Arkansas, self-named Ozark, thought to soon secede after the New Madrid Earthquake disaster last year that was never addressed by the ruling party of President Frederick Belston. It is believed that the lack of aid that was delivered to Seattle from it's earthquake years back was the start of it's desire to break apart, and the massive grudge and distrust from the people of New Orleans that has been brooding for decades has stirred the sectarian violence in the region…" She took a breath, the camera now on her face, instead of the camera with all of those highlighted states. "I do believe that it is safe to say that this is in fact the beginning of the break up of the United States of America."

Only one thing could come to Kagome's mind. _Sunset Corp… This is why they are acting now…_

The T.V. went back to Chin-mae, who looked startled at the least. It took him a moment to regain composure, glancing at the sheet of paper he held in his hand. "Well, uh… thank you Shin. Please let us know if anything else develops on that in this half hour."

"Sure thing, Chin."

Jeong cleared his throat, before looking at the camera. "Um… Today in the, uh, in the European nation of the Netherlands, on a lighter note, there is a new bill going into parliament…"

"Oh kami…" Sango stared at the computer screen, letting her chopsticks plop against the table.

"I've been to Hawaii before… To think that it is going to be a nation in it's own…" Ayame began.

"There's no one left now." Kagome said coldly, staring straight at the pc.

The other two girls looked at her. "What?" Ayame asked. "What do you mean?"

"Now there isn't a single country that will help Japan out of the mess it's falling into. We're going to have to solve this on our own."

- - -


	13. Speaking Meditation

A/N - Whao. I'm updating after about a week. The end of the world must be coming.

So, are all of you back in school? I am. I'm a junior now. And I have the evil teachers and bad sleeping conditions to prove it!…

---

_Daibakuhatsu Daigaku_

_Chapter Thirteen_

_Speaking Meditation_

---

Saturday, January 1, 4:22 AM

Hakodate, Japan

Dasunoshi Building, Men's Dormitory

_It's getting pretty late…_Inuyasha lulled to his mind, eyes hazily glued to his bedside clock. _I really should get to sleep already…_

_But how can I?… _He glared through the neon numbers, as if some force were behind it that he could silence for some reason. He wasn't particularly sure what that reason was, let alone the force, but it ate at him none the less.

Slowly Inuyasha rolled over on his back, stretching his right hand out and up into the air to get a better look at the chopsticks. They weren't any pathetic, three yen chopsticks. They were of very high quality wood; a deep and strong kind, dipped in a mixture of ink and resin for durability and appearance, and then a gloss-over finisher so they could be eaten with and washed safely.

And no matter how many times he flipped them over and over, he couldn't find out where she had gotten them from. There was no remaining glue from a price sticker, no insignia in either utensil… they were just bare, midnight black.

_Or is it jet black?… Oh yeah, **that** is what I should be focusing on right now…_

He dropped his right hand down on his chest, raising up his left and staring at his open palm. _Holy crap, why the HELL did she even give these to me after what I said in the cafeteria? I don't deserve these! _

A gentle knock resounded from his door. Inuyasha quickly snatched his shirt and threw it on before responding. "Waddya want…?"

"It's Miroku."

"Really, I never…" he paused to yawn. "… Would have guessed."

"Jeez, can I at least come in?" From the sound of his voice, Miroku wasn't all that awake either.

"Fine." Inuyasha shlumped back in his previous position in bed, but keeping both arms down and hiding the chopsticks under the covers.

The door slowly creaked open and Miroku, his hair slightly frazzled and eyes half shut, took a step inside. "Here," He said, clumsily placing a wrapped package on Inuyasha's desk . "Happy Noob-ear."

"Are you drunk?"

"Nope, just tired as all get out." Miroku rubbed his face in exhaustion, blinking his eyes a few times to reestablish what was reality in his eyes. "I'm taking a shower then going to bed. G'night."

"I'm not going to ask why you shared that information." Inuyasha wasn't really trying to be annoying now. There was just a time limit that when one stays awake over, they become a live octopus getting dipped in Lysol. Just slightly pestered. And Inuyasha was well passed his bed-time.

"You just did, though."

"So?"

"Uggh…" Miroku sighed and gripped his the top of his nose. "I'm too tired to argue. Whatever." He turned around and slowly shut the door, his footsteps moving off towards the bathroom. Inuyasha waited until he heard the shower turn on and the initial yelp of "COLD!" before he stepped out of bed and over to his desk. He took gentle steps over to the other side of the room, sliding his arms through his sleeves and pushing his shirt off of his body (for some reason it seemed that all of the heat that was missing from other dorm buildings liked to congregate in Dasunoshi).

Inuyasha picked up the gift -undoubtedly a book, from it's shape- and padded back to his bed, light from the moon and snow his guide. "Why do I have the feeling it's gonna be a copy of the Kama Sutra or something…?"

He sat down on his bed, pushing some of his covers out of the way, and ripped off the red and white wrapping paper. Yep, it was a book. A rather thin book, really. Inuyasha turned it over in his hands, and then took a look on the binding. _Where's the title?…_

Frowning at the idiocy of an unnamed book, Inuyasha opened up the cover to the first page, the symbol of a simple ring the only identifying mark. He turned to the next page, thankful to find writing.

_You may be wondering why there is no title or author for this writing._

"Yeah, just a little," Inuyasha told the book. He had more pressing things to be doing then to be reading some ridiculous book from a lecher. Probably was perverted anyway.

_Or perhaps thinking that this book is in fact a pain in your daily routine because it doesn't follow the norm._

Inuyasha stayed silent this time.

_In this case, I shall answer your inquiry. The reason this book has no title is because everyone who reads it will find it to be something different. Everyone views things in a different way. Some might say that it is good, and that shall make me smile. Some shall say it is awful, but I will keep smiling._

Inuyasha scoffed. "That's stupid. Why would you be smiling after someone said that about your work?"

_The reason I might do this is because I am smiling at the full, beautiful radiance that is in everyone. I am smiling and being joyous with the Buddha which is in everyone. For everyone is Buddha; they just don't know it yet._

Ah ha, a Buddhist book. That was probably the next most likely thing to get from Miroku in terms of books.

He still was feeling rather annoyed with his current predicament, and wanted to go on reminiscing on it. But something edged on his senses of wisdom, making him realize that he would never sleep if he kept his mind busy with worry. _Well, maybe this book will knock me out… _Inuyasha gently placed his new chopsticks on his small, wooden bedside table before rolling over on his stomach, pulling the covers up over his legs and hips, his arms holding the book where his head would be if he were sleeping.

Bored with the already dry introduction, he flipped forward a few pages.

_These are indeed troubled times that we live in. There are over one hundred thousand nuclear warheads spread out across the world. We could very well wind up destroying ourselves and everything around us in an instant._

"Tell me something I don't know."

_War is everywhere. Plagues encroach the world. Hatred breeds uncontrollably. These things are very large and can ultimately end the world._

_However, there are smaller things that can end your world personally. For example, say that there is a man who has a son. He loves his son very much, but he knows that there are many other fathers who don't love their sons. And many mothers, and siblings, and kin, and societies, and all other entities. He knows the possibilities of his small realm. So, he keeps his son within his house, protecting him from the outside world that is so evil. His son grows to resent his father, and wishes to be outside endlessly. One late night, the son leaves the house, cursing his father in hatred. His father, when he awakens the next day, weeps. He is saddened and he is confused. But most of all, he is lonely._

_For us, the outsider, it is easy to see where things have gone wrong ._

Inuyasha chuckled. "No duh. That father was whacked out." He turned the page.

_Or is it?_

"I beg your pardon?"

_To the son, his father was wrong for keeping him forever away from the world. To the father, his son was wrong for thinking of going out into a place where he would surely die._

_Both thought that they were right, and the other was wrong. _

_Notice that after I finished the tale, I did not say who was morally wrong and right._

This was getting interesting. Odd and slightly confusing, but interesting.

_Both had the world they knew fall apart. Both felt betrayed. Both felt bad. However, the whole problem is both of them refused to do anything about the problem, assuming that they alone were right and that the other would eventually follow suit, until it exploded. How could they have made peace? One possibility was if they both spoke to each other as to why they were doing what they did. Or why their thoughts were in their contexts._

_It is easy to be lazy and think that things will turn out alright if one does nothing. It is easy to be lazy and think that things will turn out awful and do nothing. The only time that something positive will happen is when all parties of the situation let go of their desires, pride, power, loves, and faiths and discover the truth about the problem. You may think of desires, pride, power, loves, and faiths as censors and filters, carefully cutting at or adding to any situation. Once you remove all of those filters, you can fully address the problem. One is then active in their body, heart and soul. Active in their Dharma, Sangha and Buddha. You are your least lazy you shall ever be because you are at enlightenment. Even if it is but for just a small moment, your are indeed a Buddha._

_So when you are faced with a problem, recognize its existence, address your filters, begone with your filters, and solve the problem as a Buddha. Be bold in your crisis, and fell it straight on!_

- - -

8:41 AM

_Failing. I am failing. _

_Flailing. I am flailing._

_In the mountain of steel and cement,_

_In the temple of warring peace and lament,_

_I flail, for I failed._

_I fail, for I flailed._

_I ask your name, you ask mine._

_Though you once said that I was swine,_

_The rising sun is arrowed through,_

_For setting is all it can now do._

_As long as we want the land to fall_

_To flail, to set, to fail, no call,_

_It shall do what is done for our sail._

_Make it fail, make it set, forcing a flail._

_My koi swims the channel in gray tones,_

_Leaving behind it a trail of white stones._

_I ask you for help, you ask it from me,_

_Not realizing the need is with we._

_All are the guilty and are the slave._

_Too busy to know it with the roaring wave._

_But the light shall land upon your heart,_

_Swallowing it like the great dark shark._

_Finding you peace and love for the land,_

_Rising the sun to warm the sand._

Inuyasha bolted up, effectively sending the book that was laying on his head flying across the room and slamming into the door. The sun was screeching through the window shade, casting powerful shadows through out the room. He heard his clock radio giving out some advisory for not going outside, but he didn't really care at the moment.

"What the friggin' hell…" He knew that was a dream. That poem thing. But it was something more than that. His gut told him that much; this little thingy was no small matter.

His cell phone began to buzz around Inuyasha's desk, being set on vibrate. He took a look at the clock on his bedside table, "8:43! Guh, I could have slept for another few hours!" before slipping out of his bed towards the annoying abomination of technology.

_Not that I really would have **wanted** to stay asleep or anything…_

"Hello?" Hhe asked in a brisk, angry tone. He wanted to go into contemplation or something again right now, not talk to people. Or maybe take another look at the book, which now lay at his feet.

"Is that anyway to speak to a demon of my stature, after getting up this early just to make a call to a pathetic person such as you?"

Inuyasha cringed. "Whaddya want, Sesshomaru…?"

- - -

9:13 AM

Kichinkyo building, Women's Dormitory

It didn't really surprise her all _that _much. Kagome knew that under the strains that the country had been put under, the United States was bound to either break up, reform, or turn into a dictatorship. The timing of it though… it was just so ironic. The United States was her only real hope left.

"The Korean Union…" she said aloud to herself, staring blankly at her computer screen, the sounds of Sango and Ayame's conversation gently leaking into her room as soft mumbles. _It's way too small, though. Not only that, but I doubt Korea would lift a finger to help out it's old enemy Japan._

_The United Nations is a joke now… All it is since Angelica Pierre stepped down as attorney general is just a bunch of greedy, fat politicians too busy thinking of their wallets while the world goes belly up._

She leaned back in her desk chair, resting the top of her hands under her chin. _Getting China to help would be suicide. They would knock out a full blown invasion. Malaysia or India might be able to, but those nations have tried to remain strictly neutral in the world since the Over-Declaration came into effect._

_Europe is the hot spot for the Bird Flu plague. The EU would be much more concerned about saving their own people than the Japanese._ She sighed. _ Understandably so._

_The AU could help, but they would be in it for the pay off, probably binding Japan into some crappy trade deal that would put us in bankruptcy. That would be stupid._

_The Union of South America wouldn't do anything. There would be some outcries in Brazil with the Japanese immigrants there, but the whole organization… it's too fixed on Latin supremacy. There is too much xenophobia. South America will get us no where._

Kagome turned a bit in her chair, glancing over some of her textbooks and a block of resin through the crack in the door. _The Arab league would get into a big fuss over spending, or supporting a nation with a violent past._ She smirked. _Which would be somewhat hypocritical, and wind up deciding that the money for help would be better spent on rebuilding the area._

_Canada could help, but it doesn't have enough strength. Same with the Philippines, and Australia._

Sango had the lap top on, and was staring intently at the screen. She quieted her thoughts to listen to what was going on via web cam.

"- with reportedly forty-eight killed in this latest attack in Tulsa, with approximately three hundred wounded. However, in the city of Memphis, there have been around 260 people killed after a rocket landed in a highly populated suburb, reportedly from guerilla fighters. Louisiana and Mississippi-"

"Urgh…" Kagome let her face slam into her keyboard, which did not really feel all that good. "The world and my world are falling into complete chaos and crap, and the JIBC website can't stop talking about New Year's rice cakes! GYAAH-A-A-AA-aaa-a-a-a…" She stood and with a groan took the two steps required to get to her bed and collapsed upon it.

_So, for a recap…_ Perhaps assembling all that was wrong right now might give her some better way of dealing with it. Like meditation…_Yeah, right._

_Hakodate is now officially snowed in and we can't go anywhere because if we go outside we'll freeze in few minutes. That's one._

_I'm under surveillance by the government, for…_ her frustration eased slightly. _Obvious reasons… That's two._

_The Hakodate Club had been incognito for a worrisome amount of time. Three._

_The United States is falling apart. That's Four through Fifty._

_Family has left. That is a plus one, minus one situation. Remain at fifty._

_I haven't talked with Yuka for a long time. Fifty one._

_Bird Flu is spreading like wild fire. Fifty two and three._

_My proxy servers have been blocked. Fifty seven._

_We have a limited amount of food in this building, for which we can't leave. Eighty seven._

She gripped onto her bedding with clenched fists. _Sunset corp. is back. Ninety._

_College. Enough said. Ninety one._

_Juggling the relationship with Ayame and Koga. Ninety two._

_Juggling this relationship with Sango and Miroku. Ninety three._

Kagome stopped in thought. _I guess…__dwelling on the problems isn't going to fix them, is it…?_ she thought to herself, glancing over at her computer screen. There was a small, flashing cartoon on a side bar, issuing a small message of propaganda. It was a small red disc with a smiley face pasted on it in white, saying " Japan is wonderful! Japan is Great! Japan is Free! Japan is we!"

"…one has to fix problems… don't they…?" Kagome pushed herself off her bed and leaned over the side. Her hands fumbled with a small tin box, the corners and edges corroded and tinted with rust, but the overall sheet metal still displayed a beautiful picturesque scene of a wine field. She fiddled with the lock on the side of it for a moment, checking the door to see that no one was watching, before hearing the definitive click of it's unlocking. She eased open the lid, and with a small puff of dust escaping with a cough Kagome peered inside at her reflection in the disc.

It was one of the old fashioned kind; the ones that didn't fit in the palm of one's hand. These were called CDs and DVDs once, but now everyone called them trash.

_Except me…_

Kagome leaped over to her desk, pressing the eject button to get the disc tray out before placing her relic upon it.

This was why she always had that disc drive re-installed every time she got a new computer.

Carefully listening to the conversation and movements outside of her room, Kagome pushed the disc tray back in the computer with a gentle nudge. A window popped up on her screen, and after a moment of downloading, asked her what she wanted to do with the picture slideshow. She pressed her finger on the mouse pad gently, effectively making her choice in the window, now vanishing out of sight. A moment later a new window popped up, showing only one folder, entitled "Shikon." Kagome's finger slipped on the mouse pad from her nervous sweat, quickly glancing out of the room to make sure no one was coming.

She did trust her friends. But she didn't their mouths.

_There is only one outside my family who I can trust with this… because she was a part of it…_

The folder clicked open. There were three pictures and one document. Kagome's finger skidded over the pad so the pointer on her screen was over the document file, which she clicked. Given a moment it opened up, and she scrolled down to the bottom of it before placing the cursor at the end and began typing.

"_December twenty third- Sunset Corp. is out of bankruptcy. Information - I think that the Shikon product might have been given to my brother, since he was the first to descend from the shrine master's lineage. Also…" _Kagome paused, waiting for Ayame to walk past the door and to the bathroom before she continued typing. " … _the United States is falling apart. This is most likely going to be the prime time for an attack from Sunset - ironically."_

Kagome pressed the save option before closing out, then clicking and highlighting all three pictures. They booted up, and she was first given a picture of an old metro link map. She pushed that one aside behind the other pictures, and was then given a scan of an antique photo. It was of a grand army in red, all marching past the long dead Stalin in the Red Square, the Kremlin in the background. She stared at it for a moment before moving on to the last picture.

It was this one that she always had the most trouble with. Every time before she booted it up before, she always promised that she wouldn't cry that time. She vowed not to waver, not to gulp or let her mind go wild. But it always failed. She took a deep breath, and clicked on the window with the final picture, labeled "Shikon no Tama".

But once again, she broke her promise.

She clenched her teeth as her eyebrows turned towards the heavens, her vision blurring from excess liquid.

It was the same vineyard. The same on as on the tin container. But this time it was down in the vineyard instead of above it.

In the bottom left there was a balding man in a green sweater, smiling as he held up a big, wooden pail. Her father, in the center, was smiling at the camera and making a classic peace sign with his right hand, clad in khakis, white shirt and a sienna flannel tied around his waist, his left throwing a bunch of red grapes into the bucket, for which the camera had just caught in time to see a few of the grapes rupture from the inertia. And in the top right was her mother, smiling while on a ladder, adorned with a clinging purple striped t-shirt and light brown overalls, her wicker hat shading both her head and the small, infant baby girl on her back from the sun's rays.

"What…?" Kagome's words were sister to silent, taking in strength from her pain and frustration, woe and worry. "What were you trying to tell me, dad?… What am I missing?…"

Her ears gently picked up the sounds of Rin's latest web cam broadcast. "-and the movement, still under careful consideration by the Dutch Parliament, has believed to be a consideration to be proposed to the E.U. and the Over-Declaration Committee."

- - -

9:52 AM

Dasunoshi building, Men's Dormitory

Inuyasha flipped his cell phone closed. That damn brother of his, always deciding that Inuyasha could be called upon like he was some pet or something. _I am nobody's pet!_ He thought angrily, yanking a pair of long underwear out of a drawer in his dresser while simultaneously pecking at the numbers on his cell phone. After pressing the dial number he raised the phone up to his ear, keeping it there with his shoulder as her battled it out with the cold-weather under garment.

There were two rings before the phone clicked on. "Higurashi Kagome speaking? Please don't ask me if my refrigerator is running if it's you pranksters again."

"Relax, it's me," Inuyasha said in a brash tone, kicking at one of the legs in the underwear.

"Oh…" She sounded genuinely surprised. "Um… Hi, Inuyasha… I wasn't expecting you to call…"

_Yes, I have established that by your voice._ "Well why not? Didn't the Hakodate Club send out some e-mail to everyone saying they had to do that and a ton of other prissy things for New Years?"

"If that's the case," Kagome hesitated for a moment, as if she were regaining composure or something to that extent, "then they conveniently forgot to forward it to me."

"Okaay…" Oh yeah, he picked that up. She had sniffled in mid-sentence. Inuyasha was only selectively ignorant, not constantly so. " So… Well, here's the point. Why the hell did you give me those chopsticks?" he cringed. That did not come out on the right tongue. It sounded like he was annoyed with her.

"U-um… well, you see…" _Oh shit, she thinks I'm ticked with her about it._ "… I felt kind of, um, kind of guilty… you know, about breaking your only pair…" He heard her sigh. "I guess when I did it… I kind of forgot about the whole 'half demons can't buy chopsticks' ordeal… and…" She sighed again. " It was just an apology for my being a jerk. You don't have to accept it if you don't want it."

_AAAAAAAAAAAACK! NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!_ Inuyasha's head was most certainly not about to let his mouth go and do something stupid, such as give up his only eating utensils. "No, wait! I'm not angry! I actually like them!"

"You do…?" She sounded somewhat… uplifted.

_Great job brain. Saying something stupid means more than not saying something rude, dum-dum._

_Oh shut up. You wanted to say it._

_Did not!_

_Did too!_

_SHUT UP YOU BASTARD!_

_You're saying that to yourself, you know._

Kagome frowned as she heard a large and varying array of frustrated grunts and growls from the other side of the conversation.

_DID!_

_NO!_

_DID!_

_SON OF A-_

_DID!_

"Um, hello…?"

Inuyasha snapped back into one personality. "Um, uh, well, I, um…"

Kagome's eyes drooped half closed.

"You see, I, well, no, My brain, stupid, mouth, no work-"

"So I hear."

"And-" Wait, what was this conversation about again?

…

Give him a minute…

…

_Ah! _"The chopsticks!"

"Yes, I am aware of what 'the chopsticks' are," she said in a slightly irritated tone.

"I guess that…" Geez did he feel awkward. Hell, this whole situation felt awkward. Why on earth was he even trying to say anything to this girl! Her life was fine enough without his constant pestering. He didn't deserve to even be speaking with her after what he said last time!

_Be bold in your crisis, and fell it straight on!_

_Be bold… _Those words slowly sank down to the abyss of his mind faster than light could burst through the depth of the deepest trench in the seas. Be bold. Be who you would want to be in the situation. Be Buddha. Be you.

"I'M TRYING TO SAY-!" He burst out, almost shouting it. Okay, so he was shouting it. "I REALLY LIKE THE CHOPSTICKS ,AND I'M THANKFUL THAT YOU GAVE THEM TO ME, AND FOR KEEPING ME SANE THROUGH THE WHOLE THING WITH KIKYO!"

_OH **SHIIIIIT!**_Inuyasha snapped the phone closed so hard the frame cracked, chucking it across the room as he shot himself in the opposite direction as if his hands were on fire. Though if his hands were mentally on fire, he then purposely set his mental head on fire, clutching his forehead as he rolled around on the ground. "AAACK! YOU DUMB-ASS BRAIN! I SAID/THOUGHT NOT TO SAY ANYTHING STUPID! YOU FRIGGIN' BASTARDLY AHO! **_AHO! AHO, AHO, AHO, AHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! _**"

That felt good. Good stress relief.

Inuyasha lay on his back, his hands slowly sliding down his cheeks, distorting his face as if it were in a wind tunnel. "Idiot, bastard, damned idiot bastard. Idio-bastardio. Bistardio. Baho. Baaa- ba-ba-ba-ba- baho…"

His ears flicked about. They had picked up a small humming sound in the distance. Not very close, but honing in.

"This sucks…" The half demon picked himself off the ground and back over to his stack of clothing. "Brain is going nuts, government blows, school is crap…" He did a quick scan of the room. ".. I'm trying to quit smoking, but I really don't _ wanna_ at the moment…" Inuyasha picked up a pair of jeans, quickly forcing them on his legs. Then came the sweat pants, which were then covered by wool leg warmers, topped off with a par of ski pants and ski overalls.

Inuyasha stopped for a moment, listening intently to the humming sound. Nope, now it was most certainly was a whipping whir. _It's getting closer…_

He had to hurry. In a mad frenzy, Inuyasha threw on an undershirt, a t-shirt, two long sleeve shirts, a turtleneck, and two sweaters, a wind breaker in between the two of them. He slipped on his numerous pairs of socks, the heaviest on last, before putting on his mountaineering boots, barely even lacing them up before grabbing his coat and extras and bolting out of his room.

As gracefully as one could with all of that clothing on, Inuyasha shulunked over to the front door, having to turn most of his body just to open the lock and door-knob. After side stepping out of his dorm with his other stuff, Inuyasha slammed the door shut, making his best attempt to run down the hall to the elevator, the whipping whir changing into the blustery crackle of a helicopter.

He kicked the up button, pulling on his palm warmers as the doors slowly slid open. He shimmied inside, racing to put on his remaining pair of gloves. The doors closed, and then the automated voice came on. "To which floor do you wish to go?"

"Roof!" He shouted exasperatedly. Inuyasha knew what would happened if he didn't get on all of his clothing in time. His body would begin to shut down in thirty seconds. Most humans would get frostbite instantly, but he had a small buffer time. But he didn't want to take that chance.

He zipped up his coat and slipped his two neck warmers on as the elevator began it's ascent. He bunched his hair down his coat, quickly slipping on a ski mask. Only three more floors left.

"Oh shit…" Inuyasha was really starting to get worried as he slipped his metal face mask on. What if he didn't have enough time to get his ski goggles on? His eyes would go-

_Shut up and keep going!_ Inuyasha hooked on his two nose and mouth covers over his face.

Two floors.

He yanked the double hoods of his parka over his head, slapping the Velcro ties on each other.

One floor.

Inuyasha yanked the elastic strap of his goggles on the back of his head, sliding them double plastic barrier for his eyes on.

The doors slid open.

"Arrived at dest-" the voice began, but it was drowned out by the sounds of the blizzard. Inuyasha was blown back against the back wall from the force of the wind the mountains of snow cascading into the elevator.

"THIS IS ONE MORE REASON WHY I HATE THIS PLACE!" he shouted mainly to himself, since he was the only one who would have been able to hear it. He struggled up into a supported stance, trying to get his balance re-established before he tried getting out.

He smirked under his clothing, the cold slowly beginning to seep through his massive, clothing firewall. Off in the distance, through the massive amounts of snow fall and the glare of the sun behind the miles of snow clouds he made out the shape of the chopper. Inuyasha frantically dug at the snow waterfall, yanking the snow shoe clip on from his back once outside.

This was the reason why Northern Japan, in particular Hokkaido, should be evacuated every year. It was these awful blizzards. The frigid temperatures of outer space would always freeze any clouds coming into the region, and they would instantly be fueled into huge snow storms. Inuyasha was lucky that he was being called out now before the snow got higher than seven feet: and the top of the elevator.

He made a run for it. Out in the snow covered roof top, he braced himself in as the helicopter made its decent, down on the snow. The propellers couldn't stop moving or else they'd freeze in place, so when it did touch down, he bolted. The helicopter side door opened just long enough for him to leap inside, and then it began to raise up in the sky.

"Honestly, you half demons are so pathetic, needing all of that clothing just to go outside?"

Inuyasha ripped off his face masks and hoods. "Easy for you to say, Sesshomaru! Now you had better tell me what is so damned important for me to risk my neck just to go outside!"

- - - - - - - - - - - -

… do I smell a cliffhanger?…

Oh yes I do.

…

…Do I sense drool from the Sesshomaru cult?…

I'm swimming in it.

(side note: For you people who like to be one step ahead of the plot… you might want to take a look as to where northern Japan is in relationship to where those nukes went off…)

Small correction on previous chapter. The first date is December thirty first. The one didn't want to work that day.


	14. State of Shock

-1A/N - …A two and half week wait… How the heck am I going to finish this before December? Well, anyway, I hope you like it!

Side note: Just to let people know, I'm not allowed to respond to people's comments on in the story. It is, as of late, against the rules. I don't want to be banned.

* * *

_Daibakuhatsu Daigaku_

_Chapter Fourteen_

_State of Shock  
_

* * *

Sunday, January 2nd, 11:31 AM

Ice Cloud Dragon Manor

Aomori, Japan

"Think this is a little bit of over-kill…? Inuyasha mumbled to himself, dusting the remaining bits of snow on his shoulders onto the marble floor.

His brother's home most likely was the largest in the prefecture, and possibly the largest in Japan. One could infer that quickly just by stepping into the overwhelming foyer, with two, green marble staircases symmetrically placed on both walls leading up to the second floor. Beneath the bridge for the second story there was a large archway, of the same material, decorated in classic Heian period engravings and pillars, while the inside walls of the path bore inscriptions of the family heritage.

Sesshomaru stepped lightly through the arch and into the chamber beyond, taking off his chocolate brown trench coat and handing it off to one of his servants. The subordinate, dressed in a black and white kimono, bowed respectively before running off with the coat, exiting via the staircases and off through a dark corridor, leaving Inuyasha alone with his brother.

He wasn't all that sure as to what he should do. This house was an enemies' territory, so to speak. Should he just stand here and let his brother talk at him through echo? Or maybe he should just waltz right in and demand what was going on here. Yeah, that second one sounded better. _Cooler, anyway._

"Do not stand there like a lamp post all day, half-demon." he heard his brother call from the chamber.

Now it didn't feel so cool.

"Shut up." Inuyasha called back, briskly making his way through the tunnel-esque path and into the adjacent room.

The ceiling was very high, ending its journey upward at the same place that the second story ceiling was. On the far wall there were five large, clear windows, spanning from ceiling to floor and from wall to wall, minus a meter or two on each side, viewing over the frozen bay, feet at sea level. The pale, tan tatami on the ground smelled strong of fresh straw, the green, kedo silk absorbing in the powerful fragrance. The furniture, however, seemed to be the end of his brother's respect for the national culture. Sesshomaru, clad in khakis and a jet black turtle neck, took a sip of his Chenin Blanc white wine, bubbling happily in the tall glass, as he leaned back in a blocky, western type of sofa. It appeared to be made out of a tan leather and was of a very minimalist style; form, not function, dominated, for the entire thing looked like a block with a fourth chunk knocked out, save for the reasonable amount of space between the floor and the chair bottom, supported by thin metal rods. His brother set the glass down on a glass top table, the bottom made of chrome siring and darkly stained wood. There was a small metal rod on the table resting near the edge of the window side; most likely Sesshomaru's lap-top.

"You certainly are the little show off bastard." Inuyasha spat, sitting down in the arm chair of identical style to his brothers couch, placed on the opposite side of the glass-top, a small arm table placed nearby on the window side.

"This Sesshomaru only displays his rightful power." He said, the words coldly monotone but the intention vicious and insulting.

"_And _you're back to talking in third person…" Inuyasha said, rolling his eyes. "Whatever. Why the hell did you fly me all the way to Aomori on Honshu, Sesshomaru?"

"Tell me, Inuyasha." His brother said, picking his wine glass back up and gazing at the fizzing liquid as he spun it around. "Do remember when we were younger and father took us all on that business trip to Tell el-Dab'a in Egypt?"

Inuyasha discreetly gulped, the hairs on the back of his neck raised up. "Of course.'

"That is when you first become terrified of frogs, no?" He continued to gaze into his wine.

"No help from you. You stuck bugs in my back pack."

If Sesshomaru was a demon of smiling, he would have then. However, a small rasp of breath showed his pleasure at the memory. "You might want to remember that over the next few months."

"Don't tell me you had me flown over Tsugaru strait just to tell me to be more scared of things that ribbit."

"This Sesshomaru is no fool or incompetent, unlike his company." He took a sip of his drink. "The matters I speak of are of far more concern than mere amphibians."

"You calling me an incompetent fool…?"

"You just called yourself that, half-breed."

Ah, the joys of brotherly love.

Inuyasha ground his teeth together in a vice grip (_Good thing they heal over in a few hours)_, but restrained from doing anything stupid. He could fume later back at the dorm. "What…do… you… want, then?" It came out sounding like a growling dog in tone.

Surprisingly, Sesshomaru didn't make anything of it. "I am to inform you of some of our late father's work and other small things before you may return to your ice hole of a university."

"Fine, sure, just get on with it." Inuyasha was really getting tired of his brother's arrogance. Though, he had been tired of it since he knew how to spell arrogance, so this really wasn't all that much more to handle.

Sesshomaru set down his wine glass before clapping his hands. Inuyasha jumped slightly in his seat when a man came out of a _very well_ concealed door on the wall behind Sesshomaru. " Yes, Sesshomaru sama?"

"Bring me the Tessaiga." He commanded, not a small bit of tone in his voice resembling anything close to a 'please'. _That figures._ Inuyasha thought. _Arrogant jack ass… which reminds me…_

"So, Sesshomaru, how's it going with your latest wife, eh?"

Sesshomaru's face remained calm and collected. "Such impudence… This Sesshomaru no longer has any wife."

"Divorced again? Jeez you change women like you change pants."

"Just look out at the ocean view, half-demon. Entertain that pathetic mind of yours."

Inuyasha - 2. Sesshomaru - 5.

Sesshomaru put his glass to his lips. "Or just reminisce about that pathetic human girl of yours."

…

_Hold-_

_The-_

_Crap!_

Inuyasha bolted to his feet. "What did you just say!"

"That human girl…" He let some of the wine pass through his lips. "…Your scent was all over her when I last saw her. This Sesshomaru assumed that you were off further defiling our family bloodline."

"Why you…" Once again, blood came up again. There wasn't a time that Inuyasha could remember him speaking with his brother and the topic not flaring up. It was always, "Defiling our family," or , "Dirty blooded.". More importantly, though, it was a direct assault not on him, but his mother.

Inuyasha's brother had never been able to forgive his father for eloping with a mortal woman while still married to a demoness. However, Sesshomaru couldn't do much against his father; After all, he had been the governor of the Chubu region, west of Kanto and Tokyo. Doing anything to his father would not be well received with the executive branch of the government. So Sesshomaru instead went after Inuyasha, who was a much easier target.

When they were younger, he would simply attack his younger brother. However, their father could easily catch on to who was the culprit, so he had to go into stealthy tactics. Eventually, in his adolescence, Sesshomaru switched from a physical battle field to a mental and spiritual one. Specified words, threats, and tricks all placed together and timed just right would have done wonder for his goal; trying to get Inuyasha to run away or commit suicide.

However, it backfired. Instead, Inuyasha became violent, arrogant, and defiant, and Sesshomaru became cold from the anger and ache of his failure.

And then their father died. And Inuyasha's mother died not too long after from ritual suicide, to "follow her husband and eternal love", her will said.

That was the only thing that ever made Sesshomaru feel any pity for his brother. So every now and then, to get rid of a nagging ache at the back of his mind, he might send his sibling some chopsticks or something. Nothing fancy, just rudimentary.

But that pity didn't stop Sesshomaru from being a bully.

"Sir, the Tessaiga." The servant man returned, holding a small, violet, velvet cushion, a small red bead placed in the middle. He lowered it down to Sesshomaru who took it swiftly before the man ran off and disappeared behind the same hidden door.

Sesshomaru picked up the metal rod lying on the glass-top and stood it up on the table. He pushed a small, chrome button on the top, making a computer light screen pop out from the side and a laser keyboard display upon the table top. Removing the top of the button from the lap-top rod, Sesshomaru placed the small sphere in a small crevice, then placing the button back on the rod and pushing it again. "This is the latest in technology, the PC-Rod."

"No really…" Inuyasha growled in return, slowly returning to his seat.

Sesshomaru used his finger to point and drag several folders and programs away before opening one document and etc., then turning the rod around to face Inuyasha. "Several nights ago, an old woman came to this Sesshomaru's door, and gave us this. She said to give it to me next of kin, for it would help in the paramount." He said, setting his now empty wine glass down on the table. "She called it the Tessaiga, and said that father wanted you to have it."

Inuyasha leaned forward and stared at the screen. It was slightly difficult; the light screen pc he had at home had more depth to it, but this one had an almost transparent background. Very eye straining. However, after squinting at it for while, he began to read it with semi-ease.

"It's talking about a Christmas light company, an associate, and some random writings from-"

"They are not random quotes from that text." Sesshomaru chided. "Those quotes are from a very specific place. They are directly from chapter 7-12 of Ekusudosa."

"What is the Ekusudosa?"

"We are still looking into it." He said simply. A woman in the same servant kimono came in and filled Sesshomaru's glass with a Nigorizake sake now.

"How do you know those are quotes? They aren't even in Japanese." Inuyasha paused for a moment. "And how do you know they are from the Ekusabosa or whatever?"

"There are quotation marks around each sentence, for one," Inuyasha looked at these quotes again. Sure enough, there were small quotation marks. He growled inside is mind. "And we were able to translate one part into a similar sounding kanji that spells out Eku**sudosa**."

"Jeez, that makes no sense whatsoever…"

"I doubt that your mind could comprehend this Sesshomaru's brilliance."

_Big words for such a small brain. _Inuyasha bit back a chuckle.

* * *

3:34 PM

Kichinkyo building, Women's Dormitory

Hakodate University, Hakodate, Japan

Kagome stared out of her frosty window, perplexed as she watched small bumps of snow grow forth and yonder, as if their were massive moles building homes all over campus. Although the snow had _finally _stopped falling (_I never knew someone could get so tired of snow…_), it was still dangerously cold outside. As such, any activity outdoors was quite interesting.

Especially after being cooped up in a dorm room for days on end. She was getting close to going psycho.

Not that she wasn't before hand or anything…

"Yes, Kohaku, I'm not planning on going outside until the crew leaves." Sango walked in to their room, her cell phone to her ear. "They do this all over the place! Why should I forget about it now?"

Kagome frowned. "Huh?"

Sango canted her head with an equally confused look on her face. "Hm?"

"Um… the crew?… The **crew** would be… what exactly?"

"Oh yeah, you're from Honshu."

"Yes, that's were Tokyo is. Shall I draw you a map?" Kagome playfully stuck her finger out and scribbled a rather simplistic, geometric map of Japan in the frost on the window. She rolled to her right in her chair and took a pose of a weather forecaster. "Now, this rectangle thing is Honshu, and you can expect some beautiful snow flurries in a few days. There appears to be a goddess who has gotten tired of shaking the glaciers off of mountains up in Hokkaido and will be dumping it on you instead! In which case the Capital will be clogged up from all the snow and all the little kiddies will get a few days off while the students in Hakodate continue their studies in their rooms, trying to keep their butt from sticking to the radiator."

Sango burst laughing. After a moment of regaining her composure, she said good bye to her brother and hung up the phone.

"Anyway… might I ask what this crew is?" Kagome eyed her computer screen. _I wonder why the news is taking so long to load…?_

"The crew," Sango began, sitting down on Kagome's bed. "Is the snow tunneling crew. Every year about this time, these crew-men come out and dig these really big tunnels in the snow throughout Hokkaido. It takes a while for all the white stuff to get the right height and sturdiness, but once it does the prefecture gets going again." She tapped the top of a chilled soda can, clicking it open and taking a sip. "The University will probably be done in a few more hours… Ugh, this stuff is flat as a pancake."

Kagome quickly glanced over at her computer screen with a concerned eye. _Still nothing…_

"Um, Sango…?" Kagome turned to her friend, currently walking to the trashcan to dispose of the pathetic excuse of a caffeine pick-me-up. "What was Rin talking about earlier? You know, on the web cam?"

The aluminum can cracked soundly against the plastic of the waste basket. "Eh…"

"Eh…?"

"Kagome, Rin's staying in Seoul." Sango said, her back still towards her friend.

"Well duh, we know that. Her flight isn't for another few-"

"No, I mean…" Sango turned around. "Rin is **staying** in Seoul." She said, her voice strained and serious. Sango gently paced over to her desk chair and sat down, careful to not make any sudden movements.

"Because of what is going on in Japan?" Kagome asked rhetorically. She already knew that that had to be the reason: The Japanese didn't have that wonderful of a history with Koreans. She would know that first hand, and besides, sooner or later the government would start to try and do something drastic with foreigners.

Sango shook her head. "No, it's not Japan."

Okay, now Kagome was positively puzzled.

"I guess it was when you were on the phone with Inuyasha this morning - which you have yet to tell me about, by the way - but she sent us another message over the web cam…"

"And it was of…"

"Kagome…" Sango turned her head down. "Washington D.C. is gone."

"WHAT!"

Sango nodded. "You remember back when we were still allowed to learn about foreign history?"

Kagome nodded. All too well she knew foreign history. "Yeah, but what-"

"Soviet Russia forgot one in the Caribbean."

The pieces of the small puzzle clicked into place in Kagome's mind. "…the American-Cuban Missile crisis…"

Sango's eyes remained looking downward, her arms slowly rubbing against each other as she hugged herself. "Yeah… I guess the Cuban government decided to take the opportunity to nuke their arch-enemy and run with it. From what Rin said, the lower half of the Florida peninsula is now flying the Cuban flag."

"They invaded…!"

Sango nodded. "Her parent's don't want her leaving the country; it's one of the only safe places left in the world…" She paused. "Rin said that there've been millions of refugees flooding in there. There's even been talk about abolishing the Over-Declaration. And although all that is all well and good… It doesn't change what's happened…"

Kagome's hands slowly traveled up her body, embracing her hair in a tousle. Her legs slipped up to her torso, feet resting on the seat of her chair, nestling in closer to warm her body. "Y'think the U.N. will do anything about it- no, I didn't put that right…" Kagome stared at her friend's face. "You think they'll _try_ to do anything about it?"

"Try, yes. Execute, I doubt it."

The small bleeping sound on Kagome's desk signaled the ringing of her cell phone. She let the ring tone repeat a few times before she picked it up, gently pressing the talk button, her hand precariously raised up to her ear. "H-hello?"

"SINCE WHEN DID YOU KNOW MY BROTHER!"

Sango raised her eyebrows at the sound blast, Kagome's phone-arm a full length away from her ear. "I guess your earlier conversation didn't go that well with Inuyasha?"

"Not really; I thought it ended on a high note for once!" flustered, Kagome turned back to the telephone. "What!"

"MY BROTHER! HOW-DO-YOU-KNOW-HIM?"

_"_You have a brother?… oh wait, that's right… the one that occasionally sends chopsticks…"

"I-_…" _Well that shut him up quickly. Just the thought of the chopsticks, and of the New-years book (_Yeah, be **bold**, huh? What about being stupid?)_… all of the capacity of his current situation in Hakodate came rushing back to him, semi-knocking out the information recently given to him from Aomori. "Uh… er…"

"Inuyasha, I think that we can talk about this a little later…" Kagome's tone was unusually sweet, Sango noticed. _Then again…_ Sango frowned. _She's been acting a little weird lately, hasn't she?_

"Uuhh… kay… Why does this wait?"

"Because ten million people were just killed, that's why!" Kagome yelled over the phone in a scolding tone.

It took a moment for Inuyasha to pick the phone off the floor and avoid the incredulous look Miroku was giving him. "I beg your pardon!"

"The Capitol of the United Sta-, well, I guess that's not the right word anymore, but still! Washington D.C. was just nuked by Cuba! There is an invasion going on!"

Inuyasha let out a sigh. "Look, that's terrible and all, but why don't we focus on the problem in this country and our own lives first, neh? Now, how d-"

Sango watched as her roommate's posture suddenly transformed into one of complete rage. Her fingers gripped into the hard plastic covering of the cell phone, her muscles tense, a frown of fury scowering onto her usually calm and serene face. "What… did you… just… say…?"

"Don't get all defensive about it! Just start thinking about what a mess we're in, and-"

"YOU BELIGERANT, POMPOUS ASS-HOLE!" Sango scooted back in her chair out of fear as evil Kagome sprung forward, standing on the floor. " YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW ABOUT WHAT ALL IS GOING ON HERE IN THE NIHON, DO YOU! **_DO YOU!_** I KNOW MORE THAN YOU COULD EVEN COMPREHEND ABOUT WHAT IS GOING HERE, AND HOW IT IS CONNECTED TO EVERYTHING ELSE IN THE WORLD! IF A PERSON STARTS TO BE IGNORANT ABOUT THE PLIGHT OF OTHERS, THEN THEY BECOME APATHETIC TO THEIR OWN PROBLEMS! I HAVE LIVED BY THOSE WORDS OF MY FATHER, AND I REFUSE TO LET YOU THINK THAT I AM NAÏVE OR PATHETIC ANYMORE!"

Inuyasha was stunned to say the least. This was a side of Kagome he hadn't heard before. At least he hadn't heard in a while. Technically.

"FURTHERMORE, YOU WANT TO KNOW WHY THE UNITED STATES WAS SO IMPORTANT! BECAUSE IF THIS COUNTRY KEPT SLIPPING THE WAY IT IS, THEN THEY WERE GOING TO INTERFERE! TRUST ME I KNOW THIS, I'VE SEEN THE DOCUMENTS! YOU PROBABLY DON'T BELIEVE ME, BUT THAT IS ALWAYS HOW IT IS WITH YOU, ISN'T IT? OH, THE PROBLEMS OF YOU ARE SO MUCH MORE _DIRE_! THE WOES OF EVERYONE ELSE ARE SO BAD, AND KAGOME CAN COPE SO WELL! SHE CAN HELP US! SHE CAN TAKE THE LOAD OFF! DID ANY OF YOU EVEN BEGIN TO THINK ABOUT WHAT THE LOAD ON ME IS NOW!

Kagome sank to the ground, her eyes beginning to water.

"I'M BEING WATCHED BY THE GOVERNMENT! THE COMPANY THAT ORGANIZED THE KILLING OF MY FATHER IS BACK IN BUSINESS! I'M STUCK IN A FROZEN HELL WITH NO WAY OUT! ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS IS STAYING OUT OF THE COUNTRY FOR FEAR OF PROSECUTION! AND MY FAMILY HAS HAD TO LEAVE THE COUNTRY BECAUSE OF SOMETHING THAT I BARELY EVEN UNDERSTAND, LET ALONE HAVE THE CAPABILITY TO

ACTUALLY FIGURE OUT! AND NOW THE FORCE THAT WAS SUPPOSED TO HELP ME WITH ALL OF THIS IS FALLING APART AT THE SEAMS, THOUGH BASICALLY IT ALREADY HAS!…" She paused for a second to breath, tears fully running down her face. "And, I mean… You're telling me to just give up hope! And, I-I… I've never even had a boy friend, and… and… I barely knew my dad, and this university is hard as hell…and I haven't heard from Yuka for a long time, although I know she knows my address, and… And, I just, I can't-" She drew in a raspy breath of air. "And I don't know anything about your ass-wipe brother!"

…

Sango was… in a bit of a state of shock.

As was Inuyasha.

And Ayame and Miroku, ever the eaves droppers.

"So, next time you talk to me, keep all of that in mind!" Kagome almost shut off the phone, but there was one last tid-bit that she had to get out. "And you say all of this after saying something so nice earlier! Do you even know how long those chopsticks took to make! Two weeks! Two fucking weeks! Ass hole!"

**Then** she hung up.

Kagome flopped down on the floor, tears striding down her face, but a grin now planted firmly on her mouth. "THAT…_" _she held up a finger in the air.

Sango gulped, careful not to trigger another volcanic explosion. "That…?"

"THAT…" Kagome repeated. "Felt really good!"

* * *

Monday, January 3rd, 12: 27 AM

… "_Dad…?"_

…"_Good evening Kagome…"_

_Kagome opened her eyes in the realm of dream. She was sitting up in her bed, but all of the covers and sheets had no color, and neither did anything else. The vast expanse of everything was that of celestial space, with the arms of a galaxy spreading over her legs, comets passing at a peaceful pace in the distance, and what appeared to be a star floating right in front of her face. Her hand slowly wet up to touch it, but her father, standing perhaps a few meters away from the 'bed', interrupted. "I wouldn't do that."_

_"How come…?" _

_Her father chuckled. "Because that is no figment of your dream. That **is** a star."_

_"This is a dream?" She asked, bringing her hand down back to her chest._

_"So to speak." He replied. Kagome's father had a cream colored Kimono draped over his shoulders, underneath wearing a red turtle neck and dark, painter jeans, just like the ones that he- _

_"If this isn't a dream," she began. "Then how come I can talk to you? Your dead."_

_"It isn't a dream because there is more than the world that you can touch." _

_"Even that world is surreal now." She retorted, placing her hands on her lap, knees bent. "Did you know that I've been spied on by the government?"_

_"Yes…" He said, his eyes turned down in shame and melancholy._

_"And that the United States is breaking up? And that Mom and the others have left the country? And that Avian flu keeps on mutating so fast that it's become a plague?"_

_His eyes opened in shock. "No, actually."_

_"Huh?" Kagome's face scrunched up with discontent. "But how could you know about the bugs-"_

_"You felt a pain in your stomach when the bugs were coming out of the ceiling, yes?"_

_"…How did you know that…?"_

_Her father smiled. "That is why I am here now. That is why Sunset corp is back. It's why I was killed, why there is the Over-Declaration… that pain is the exact reason all of this is happening."_

_Kagome's hands almost ripped the 'sheets' her legs were under. "WHAT! WHAT IS IT THEN! WHAT IS THE PROBLEM OF ALL OF THIS!"_

_"Shh…" He pressed a finger to his lips. " Kagome-"_

_"NO! PLEASE, DAD, I NEED TO KNOW! IF THAT PAIN IS THE REASON SO MANY OTHER PEOPLE ARE FEELING PAIN, THEN I HAVE TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO GET RID OF IT!"_

_"That is something that would only come with your death, and then everything would become worse tenfold."_

_Kagome bit her bottom lip._

_"I can't tell you too much about it, no matter how I feel." He said, his eyes clenched in frustration. "Please understand, Kagome, we didn't mean to do this…"_

_"Uh…We..?"_

_"Yes, we. Me and my partners at Sunset Corporation. We only meant for it to be made into something to help people, but then things turned ugly in the world. We knew that if we unleashed any of them, that everyone would suffer horribly._

_"But we also knew," He started, staring her in the eye, to the core. " It was too wonderful to keep from the pure hearted, and that we couldn't destroy it... Even if we could have summoned up the courage to do so, it couldn't be done in the end; we made it out of a diamond-metallic alloy - it is **impossible**__to destroy."_

_"Dad, that doesn't make any sense." Kagome said._

_"I know…" He sighed. "Speak to this Inuyasha. He has information that will help, even if he doesn't know it."_

_"Huh! How do you know about Inuyasha!"_

_"The same way I know about the spy machines." He said. " Think Kagome. You are the brightest star out here, and the brightest burns the fiercest; you have the capability of figuring this out. Think about that situation."_

_"Um, I'm not a star." She said flatly._

_"Oh really…?" Her father said, pointing at her chest._

_Kagome looked down. Sure enough, she wasn't actually there. Her body was translucent, in the place of her heart a brilliant blue and yellow star, it's light feverishly blasting away._

_But there was something else. Behind the light of her own heart, as it appeared, there was a small pulsar, resting in the place of her stomach._

_"What's that?"_

_"The reason for this. That was the pain." He said. "But you can think about that later. You don't have a lot of time. Now think, Kagome! Think back to that time! What happened then?"_

_Kagome gripped her stomach. It was hurting so badly, so sharp that she was going numb. Her legs gave way, and she fell down on the bugs, each slowly crawling over her, nestling her flesh, some trying to burrow in._

_Her eyes faded into darkness._

_But an instant later a sudden blast of light shook her awake._

_The pain was gone now. Slowly she stood up and looked around. The mechanical bugs lay in a massive, burnt heap, purple smoke resonating from their parts._

"_what… was that?…"_

_The room was quiet. Slowly she walked over to the light switch and turned off the overhead light, instead taking in the night in the light of the blinking Christmas decorations. Her computer sat frozen in cyber space, screen black blank. She picked back up her cell phone and sat in her desk chair, pressing the power button on the television remote. It was amazingly clear now. "I'm back." She said in a rasp._

"_Did you set the dormitory on fire or something?"_

"_No…" She sighed at the simplicity of his question. One would think that she was having a little more than just cooking problems after being away for twenty minutes, wouldn't they?_

"_I just did a sweep." she said._

"_Hm?"_

"_There were spying bugs everywhere. Even in the light switch… I just killed them all."_

_Kagome gasped. "The cell phone!"_

_Her father smiled, the light of his heart-star beginning to fade. "Very good. I only have time to say one more thing. Now,"_

_"What! Wait, Dad, I-"_

_"Kagome, remember the triangle of life, for you will find life in the void, and death on the border. Your star isn't even near the triangle."_

_"_Wait, DAAAAD!"

"Kagome!" Sango popped up out of from under her covers and ducked her head to the bunk below. "Kagome, are you okay!"

"Yeah…" Kagome's eyes calmed and slid down, desperate for the darkness instead of impaling light. "Sorry, it was just a night mare. I'm fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I'm good. You go back to sleep; your body needs all the rest it can get before you go after Miroku tomorrow."

"Well…" Sango mouth wavered into a pained smile, mixed in with the woes of weariness. "Okay… just let me know if you need to talk, okay?"

"I will." Kagome slid back down on her mattress and pulled the covers up and over her shoulders. Waiting for Sango to do the same. Slowly she undid the first few buttons of her night-blouse and felt her chest, right in the sternum, right where her heart was.

It hurt to touch, for her fingers told her that he had a large, roundish burn.

"The brightest star…" she whispered to herself, fingering her neckline. "… burns the fiercest…"

Kagome slipped her eyes closed.

…

They snapped back open, staring at an invisible epiphany. "Wait just a minute..."

* * *

I have plans for next chapter… this should be the end of confusing plot development for a while. Course, by the time it returns, it won't be confusing no more… mwehehe… 


	15. Judging Character

-1A/n - I feel yucky. It's been a month since my last update.

The guilt… I'm getting squished by it…

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 15

Judging Character

* * *

Monday, January 3rd ,12: 38 AM

Hakodate, Japan

Kichinkyo Building, Women's dormitory

Kagome rigidly paced back and forth across the main room of the building floor. "Optic charged… optic means sight, which is the registering of light. My cell phone is optic charged. It carries information through infrared and X bands, which are a variant of light…"

_Maybe I should wake up Sango and talk to her. Explain it all…_

She headed the other direction. "In the 'dream' the thing in my stomach was a pulsar, which is a kind of star that is visible through X bands and radio waves…"

_But what if she got involved? I couldn't risk throwing her life into turmoil just because of me…_

She stopped and stared down, her left hand choking the other. "So my cell phone can pick up the… _whatever_ this thing in me is making…"

_It would be awful if I did anything to her life… I won't dare hurting her like I have been…_

She turned around and kept walking. "The pain came from where my stomach is, approximately, assuming that my knowledge of artistic anatomy isn't up the wazoo at the moment." Stop. Plant foot. Turn. Continue pacing.

_I really wish I could tell all of this to Yuka, but I still haven't heard anything from her… note to self, call Yuka in the morning._

"The only thing that could cause some kind of output like that would be the acid in my stomach interacting with whatever it is, making some kind of exothermic reaction…"

_I really wish I could tell all of this to someone… though I kind of blew it earlier and let too much slip… I mean… no. I mean I wish I could have someone I could tell all this to that could help me figure it all out. That would be able to relate to what has happened and wouldn't look at me with pity or doubt._

"And if that is the case, then the thing is practically indestructible; if it has been in me for a while without it dissolving or my throwing it up. Something like that would have to switch between phases of ph; becoming very a strong acid and then a strong base, I guess… the yin and yang of chemistry…"

_Someone who can actually… listen. Who can hold compassion without becoming ignorant, and can hold anger without becoming ignorant…_

"…I'm not exactly sure how that is possible…" Kagome thought for a second. "…Hold on: screw science for a second. The stomach is a Chakra in Hinduism… I'm not exactly sure what it is a chakra of, but I know it has to be important if it is a chakra."

_Someone who has both the best and worst of both sides of the spectrum. Of Yin and Yang. Positive and negative. Offense and defense._

"So, this _thing_ that is in my stomach, which is apparently a big ball of fire _somewhere_, that also can apparently be read by my cell phone (Those things are getting **way** too convenient), is just about indestructible, but has the ability to change it's acidity at a 'whim', and is the reason why all of this bad stuff has happened."

_Someone who won't have anything to gain or to loose by knowing me. Someone who will be wary but brave of what I have to say._

Kagome slumped down to the floor. " …That got me no where, didn't it…?"

_Someone… who has the melody of this harmony of a song in my mind… Someone… who is just for me…_

She chuckled at that thought. "I guess I've been reading too much Chobits: bad habit…"

_Someone who is dystopia and utopia to be with._

"Though… I read when I'm stressed…" She turned over on her side. "How else would I have learned anything?"

_Who could that someone be? Does that person even exist?_

"…_Can _anyone help…?"

* * *

Wednesday, January 12, 1:02 PM

Hakodate University Cafeteria

Inuyasha held the small bead, deemed Tessaiga, in his gripped hand, scanning the horizon of the cafeteria for the someone it was supposed to help. _She's bound to come here sometime: She's gotta read her email sometime, and I left her a notice there…_ He tapped his fingers impatiently against the table top, scratching nervously at his neckline.

What was there to be nervous about? He was just giving her a little… uh, thing, that was to _help her…_

_With what, I wonder._

He probably wouldn't have felt so out of place if the building was a bit more normal looking. Usually he might only come to the cafeteria to get food during the warm months since he first got a dorm with a kitchen in it last year. (Albeit a small kitchen, but a kitchen nonetheless) Now, however… the large windows were all opaque and white, from the piled snow outside. Furthermore, the sun was shining brightly -for once- and that amplified the bleaching effect of light coming across the building.

It might also help if there were more than seven people in a place made to accommodate seven hundred.

_…'c'mon…_

He glanced at his wrist watch.

… _I sent you that friggin email days ago, Kagome! You know you have to be here!_

* * *

1:14 PM

Kichinkyo Building, women's dormitory

"I don't want my teacher to fall off a cliff, I don't want my teacher to fall off a cliff…" Kagome repeated her mantra again a few more times as she walked out of the elevator, her supplies in tow, and trudged her way down to her dorm room, jutting the keys in.

"Oh, why do I lie to myself… I wouldn't mind it is Professor Naraku took a long walk off a short pier. There I said it. Happy, mind?"

_Yes, thank you._

Kagome, growling from her day, whipped the door open to her dorm room and slammed it soundly behind her as she entered. Worse though was the fact that, although she hoped her computer would have the _real_ news up and running by now via internet, she knew it wasn't going to be running anymore, confirmed as she glanced at the 404 error message on the screen.

"So…" She said to herself, clicking the X button in the top right corner of the window. "They've cut off proxy servers now, neh?"

Kagome did expect it to eventually happen. Hence the reason she had privately asked Rin to call every day or so to give her an update on world happenings.

She pursed her lips as her eyes lengthened their gaze on the lap-top screen. "Just for comparison…" Kagome reached down to the keyboard and typed in the website of JIBC, and after a moment of loading, she smirked at the results, reading them aloud.

"Prime Minister Zusayama opens new museum and square-plaza in Tokyo… the prime minister today opened the new Akari Nihonkami museum today in Tokyo, which is in dedication to all Japanese heroes and patriots, especially those who were murdered by the opposing forces of world war two… Idiot, we _all_ know the Japanese attacked the U.S.A…" She paused for a moment, her voice sinking lower. "And invaded east Asia first. And including what those soldiers did to people…" She stood up straight, rigid and fuming, trying to keep herself in check. "…They deserve no monument or square."

A window box popped up on screen with large, red flashing light. Words soon popped up afterwards, reading; "You have a person trying to contact you through video! Is this okay?"

She pressed the okay button, sitting down in her chair again.

The window faded away, revealing a black box in the center of the screen, which soon cut to a live feed of her friend, idly laying on the floor, gazing right back.

Kagome forced back the will that told her to raise her eyebrows in stress and worry. "Hey Rin."

"Hey Kagome," Rin returned, smiling sweetly. "Have you heard back from your friend yet?"

_Yuka…_ "No, not yet," Kagome replied, looking down in discontent. "I called a few days ago, but no one answered, and they don't have an answering machine. I think I'm going to call again soon and see if her roommates know anything."

"Okay, you do that." Rin quickly took a swig of a mystery drink in a cup before pulling up a light-screen lap top next to her. "Ready for today's stuff?"

"Yeah, I suppose so." Kagome nodded, discreetly pulling out a pad of paper and pen.

"Okay, here it goes… First major subject; Second American Civil War."

"Gimme a second…" Kagome jotted down the top of her list. "Okay, go ahead."

"The United States has been officially dissolved, with the District of Columbia… Is that Washington D.C.?"

"Yep."

"Ah, okay. That makes sense. Anyway, since the District of Columbia has all but been wiped off the face of the earth, there is no real federal government for anyone anymore. Also, speaking of Washington D.C., there have been a few survivors found so far by a UN force -I'll get to that in a minute- in the bombed area. At the moment, a few dozen people have been rescued and taken to Ottowa, apparently including two members of the former senate and the first lady former."

"Okay…" Kagome knew that she would connect the dots and such later, her hand whizzing across the paper to get down the information in time for the rest. "I got it. Go on ahead with the rest- Oh, can you hit the whole U.N. force thing?"

"Sure…" Rin looked at the light-pc screen and clicked a few times before she looked back at the web cam. "Okay, stuff on the U.N. Nation 'Operation Courageous Freedom'… It says that a coalition force of Britain, Ireland, Brazil, Argentina, Australia, South Africa, Nigeria, Malawi, India, the Republic of Persia, Canada, and Mexico are now giving military aide and prowess to the 'United States of America'," Rin coughed. " As well as invading Cuba. From what it shows me, the coalition have taken back most land acquired by Cuba except for the Florida keys… wonder where that is… sorry. Anyway, they have also begun attacking Havana and other big cities in Cuba."

"Does it say anything about humanitarian aide?"

"Yeah, let's see…" Rin glanced at the light pc again. "Okay, apparently humanitarian aide is being given to the peoples of the region from all member of the Coalition, excluding foodstuffs from Brazil and Argentina, as well as some supplies from Ireland and Britain."

Kagome raised an eyebrow. "No food from South America? I can understand the stuff with Europe and all, what with the mutation strain of Avian Flu going nuts. But what's wrong with the food from Brazil and Argentina?"

"Actually, it's a ban of food from just Brazil and Argentina." Rin said, quickly looking at her friend. "The food from the rest of South America is fine. It's just that in the Pampas region of Argentina and the Amazonian basin of Brazil, a decade or so back, there was a big infestation of a new strain of a rabies virus that was transmitted by South American mites. Somehow they got from the remains of the Amazon to the herds of Argentina and Brazil, and started infecting animals like crazy, which would then attack other animals or people before dying themselves after a few days. Although the outbreak is considered controlled, the U.N. doesn't want to take any chances. That is what the good International Press Report says."

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that…" Kagome rubbed her forehead. "Boy do I feel dumb now."

"It's okay; we're only mortal. We make mistakes."

"_THAT's_ true… even in the ones who aren't mortal…"

"Huh?"

Kagome shook her head. "It's nothing. Anyway, the rest of the stuff on the civil war?"

"Oh, okay… Apparently the factions of Cahokia-Egypt, Miamiva, and Hopewell have made a mutual protection pact with Ozarkia… Geez, I wish they'd show a map."

"I can make one for you later and show it to you if you want." Kagome said, canting her head to the side with inquisitive eyes.

"That's okay; you probably have more important work to do than making me a map."

"Y'might be surprised… Anything else?"

"That's it for the civil war. For other stuff, though, there is a new Prime Minister of France: Jules-Serge Brunet. Greece has added another article proposition to the Overdeclaration. Also, Kazakhstan has officially ended diplomatic ties with the Russian Federation and gives it's support to the independence campaigns of Kamlykia and Chukotka over statements the Russian President said about Islam…and… Um…" Rin closed a window on the light screen. "Ah. Columbia won the World baseball classic."

"Ooo.. Sports. Such joy." Kagome said in an annoyed monotone. "Anything else?"

"Well there is a small little thing…" Rin said awkwardly, slowly beginning to smile, wrapping her fingers around each other nervously. "You can go and check your email to find out real quick."

"Erk." Kagome smiled sweetly at her friend. "Um… well, Rin, you see… My email is on an account based in Switzerland. Which uses a proxy server. Which has apparently been blocked."

"That could make it a little difficult to read email, huh?"

"Just a little." Kagome shrugged. "Though I suppose you could just _tell_ me what this big news is, since we're 'face to face' already."

"But where's the fun in that!?"

"Um, Rin? I have no other way finding out. Just tell me."

Rin slowly took in a deep breath.

Then exploded in rabid giggling that was reminiscent of a five year old who had just had a box of pop tarts and a latte.

"Rin, you're scaring me."

"I'M GOING OUT ON A SECOND DATE! IT'S SO FRIGGIN AWESOMe! AND HE'S SO HOT!"

Okay, that was not exactly what Kagome had been expecting. She had thought more along the lines of '_Hey, I got a puppy!' _as opposed to _'I've got puppy love!'_ "Really? I-"

"OH, JUST WAIT TIL YOU **SEE** HIM, KAGOME! HE COMPLETELY MAKES ME FORGET ABOUT THE WHOLE REVEALING PHOTO OF INUYASHA AND HIS STUFF! IT'S ALL THROWN OUT THE WINDOW WHILE I'M GOING **_BOOM_**!!"

"No debate: you are officially freaking and creeping me out… and losing me a bit." Kagome chuckled, pushing her hair back behind her ear. "Does this guy have a name?"

"AND WHEN I'M WITH HIM, WE CAN JUST TALK AND TALK AND-"

"Uh, Rin? His name?"

"AND I HAVE A FEELING HE'S GONNA TRY AND KISS ME SOON AND IT'S ALL JUST SO SIZZELINGLY ROMANTIC!"

"You have no idea what I'm saying, do y-"

"OH, KAGOME! HE IS JUST SO-"

"**RIN!!!" **

The Korean college girl blinked for a few moments before looking at the screen with intent. "Um, did I just-"

"Go ranting endlessly about some guy whom I don't even know the name of? Yes, yes you did."

"Oh, sorry. My mother told me the other night she's getting sick of it." Rin said, fingering her neck line.

"Tell her I feel her pain. Anyway, this guy? Am I allowed to know anything about him?"

"Okay, well, his name is Itasho Yokahito, and he's another demon refugee from Japan, Akita Prefecture. He's really tall, and handsome, and… well, physical details aren't all that great if he isn't here, are they?"

"They're appreciated at the least. Continue, oh dating one."

Rin giggled. "Yesh, I'm dating a guy… so cool… Ack, I digress! He plays the koto… really, REALLY well. And- Hm?" Rin looked off screen for a moment looking so someone to was making sounds elsewhere. "Ah, Ahnya hashimika! Sorry, Kagome, I gotta go. Talk to you later, okay?"

"Sure." Kagome nodded, and after a moment, the screen went black.

_Well, I got some good information today…_ She thought, flipping between one and another page of notes. _But what to do with it…_

Her eyes glanced over to her stack of video discs. "Maybe…" She stood, slowly pacing over and bending down on her haunches to look at the stack. "Maybe if I watch it again, I might find something…"

Kagome picked up the disc labeled 'Kagome's First Christmas'.

* * *

3:12 PM

Hakodate Main Campus Office Hall

Koga stood with his arms over his chest, a frown on his face. His darkened eyes gazed straight forward at the desk of the main receptionist, Kaede, who still wasn't back in Hakodate yet. Even though all staff were called back a few days ago.

A young aide girl, probably eighteen, stepped back behind the main desk, flicking her obviously unnatural blonde hair over her shoulder. "Can I help you, sir?"

He couldn't help it. It just happened out of habit that his eyes slipped down to her chest. "Uh…"

"Yes…?" She seemed to be oblivious, which might have been a good thing.

"Eur…" He shook his head and cleared his throat, pulling at the white sweater collar that seemed to be strangling him. "Do you, um… know when Kaede might be getting breast?"

"Huh?"

"Back!" He yelled. _Oh great_. " Do you know when old Kaede will be getting back?!"

"Um…" Looked like she still didn't have a clue. Maybe all that bleach screwed with her brain? " Lemme see…" She sat down in the gray desk chair and clicked a few times on the computer. She peered at a document file for a bit (Koga guessed that, anyway. For all he knew, she might be looking at her reflection.) before snapping up and looking at him with a puppy dog face. "Sorry, I can't find anything like that. If you want, you can leave your name and number here and I'll call you when she comes back in?"

"Erm…" Koga forced his eyes to face the floor, all the more aware of the heat riding in his cheeks. "Su-ure. Um, here." He flicked a pen out of his pocket and scribbled down his phone number before throwing on his jacket and heading for the door. "Thanks!" He called back behind him.

"Um sir!" The girl jumped up onto the desk and stared at the wolf demon's figure beyond the glass window. Her eyes returned down to the counter top, her fingers running over the numerals. "…You wrote your number into the counter…"

She turned her head again to look at the young man, who was frantically looking at the map chiseled into the ice and snow tunnel side. Slowly she tilted her head as her eyes slipped toward the ground. "… nice butt…"

She looked back to the number on the counter.

* * *

3:25 PM

Somohito Building, Men's Dormitory

Koga lay sprawled over his bed, his head up and staring at his computer light screen. Slowly he sat up and brought his hands up to his head, his fingers toying with his ponytail holder until the string slipped from it's knot. His hair tumbled down as the string's grip fell until it all was down, all straight, all calm. Koga fell back onto his bed, arms flinging themselves up by his head.

Staring at the ceiling, he took in a deep breath down to his diaphragm, sighing to release. "I can't be with Ayame anymore…" He whispered.

Perhaps he should've known that from the beginning. That she was just supposed to be another to date. Just someone else in the search for the one who wasn't just someone else.

_Come to think of it_… He thought, fingering his hair while watching the overhead fan-blades spin around endlessly in their pursuit of each other. _That's the main reason why I even see so many girls._

_Saw so many women, rather. _ He rolled his eyes.

_I guess it's not that romantic or anything, but since when was life a romance novel? So I have a flaw: who doesn't?_

His stomach gave lurch. Koga sat up, rubbing the back of his neck before standing up and heading out to the main room of his dorm. The walls were decorated fondly of posters: mostly of pictures from the mountains or forest, things soothing to him. "But still…"

He paced into the kitchen, almost tripping on his long jeans. "Just because I don't want to be with one girl or another or that things turn out bad or whatnot… that doesn't mean that I can't fall in love…"

He opened the refrigerator door. "Who am I talking to?…"

He shrugged and grabbed the carton of soy milk. He'd get another later so his roommate wouldn't go nuts at him.

Koga plopped down in a chair at his table, his legs spread. "And… people are dynamic. Our emotions change. I don't know if my love Kagome will one day change, but it isn't faltering right now."

"And even though we're dynamic, we don't have control over our emotions. That would be real helpful, but… nah, it would get real old. Everyone would always be smiling a fake smile, not truly feeling happiness. Instead they'd just be doing what it is that _others_ would want them to do."

_But why can't a person always be truly happy?_ His conscious mind asked.

"Oh they can." Koga said in return. He knew he wasn't going crazy: some people just talk to themselves to get things out. He was one of those people. "That's called being in true love, I guess."

_You guess?_

"Well I don't know fully yet. Love can grow to a feeling of true love. And when I'm near Kagome, I can't help feeling better about things. I don't have control over how my heart starts pounding harder."

_But what happens if the love I have for Kagome turns out to not be true love?_

He sat at the table. The top of the soy milk quickly popped off as he took a strong swig.

* * *

4:42 PM

Hakodate University Cafeteria

"…Is that all?" Miroku asked, an incredulous look upon his face, downplaying Inuyasha's passionate complaining.

"IS THAT ALL?!" Miroku's roommate was still being passionate. Er, zealous. Oh, fine, he was overreacting. "THE HAKODATE ASKED US TO GO AND TAKE CARE OF MAINTENANCE OF THE SNOW TUNNELS FOR A WEEK?! IT'S INSANE!"

The human rolled his eyes, sipping his green tea through a straw. "You know, the more you keep on talking like that, the more likely you're gonna get in trouble with people higher up…"

**_"What was that?"_**

"Erp, nothing!" Miroku focused on his straw. _Man Inuyasha must really be ticked off to give that evil of a leer._

_Where… the bleeding hell… is she?!…_ Miroku's hypothesis was most certainly correct. _It's been hours?! Why-_

"Hey," Kagome said calmly, rubbing a puffy red eye before sitting down at the table with Inuyasha and Miroku, plum in hand. "How've you guys been?"

"HOW'VE I- WHERE THE _FUCKING_ _HELL_ HAVE **YOU** BEEN?!"

"Oh yeah, wonderful entrance, Inuyasha. Just shows the best of you." Miroku groped his forehead.

Kagome blinked for a moment, similar to how she saw Rin blink earlier. _Heh, Deja vu, I guess._ "I-I… I beg your pardon? I thought that this was the first time we saw each other in weeks. Aren't people supposed to be _nice_ when they are reacquainted? Or at least after their last conversation ended badly?"

Inuyasha, standing and waving his finger around like a sword, opened his mouth to shout something again, but Miroku interrupted. "That would be so with normal people, Ms. Higurashi. You just so happen to be talking to a person who is absolutely wacko: for example, he openly says he hates your guts, or did anyway, but I often catch him going off in a daze when you're mentioned."

Inuyasha's eyes became the size of dinner plates. If it were possible, they would have exploded in a massive fireball, but he wasn't that kind of a half demon. That was a whole other breed. "**_Miroku_**…"

"What?! I've been cooped up with you for what seems like forever! I wanna say something already!"

"Then talk to Sango or SHUT UP!"

Kagome looked to the readers. "Did I miss something?"

Readers in unison: "Yes. So have we."

Kagome sighed. "At least I'm not alone in my misunderstanding…"

"Hey, half-demon!" the woman behind the cafeteria counter called out. "Stop making a scene in here! You're going to give everyone heartburn!"

Inuyasha, now standing and holding Miroku by his throat, whirled his head around at the yelling voice. "**AND YOU SHUT UP TOO!**"

"Inuyasha, just drop it." Kagome said, her voice an annoyed monotone, gazing out the window at the gray of the packed snow. "Hey, my voice did the same thing earlier. Déjà vu again."

_Wait, come to think of it…_ Inuyasha slowly let Miroku down to the ground. _She's… right…about our last conversation… _ He looked over at her, her back emanating a humonic growl of mortal ticked off-ness. _Oh crap…_

"If you don't like the chopsticks, that's fine. "She said. "But please don't talk to me or Miroku like that."

The half demon's ears drooped in shame, something that made Miroku's eyebrows raise. "Um…"

"Also, in case your about to ask, no, I still don't know anything about your ass-wipe brother." She canted her head to the syllables of that last part. Kagome slumped forward on the table, supporting her head with her arms, plum now in mouth.

"I…" Inuyasha slowly sat down, taking a gulp as he breathed in her scent. It seemed to be even more electrical then before, almost sending him into a dreamlike daze by the sheer beauty and luscious extravagance of it. But it was the hints of weary and melancholy which kept him in consciousness. "I do like the chopsticks."

Miroku's mouth fell right open as he all but slammed into his chair.

The plum fell out of Kagome's mouth as she faintly smiled. "Thanks." was all she said before she pushed her head forward and seized the plum again in her mouth.

"Hey, I just complemented you! You could be a bit more grateful than that!" Inuyasha blurted out, instantly regretting it. He mentally slapped himself in the head. _Oh yeah, great job._

"Oh look!" Kagome began, her head still on the table. She lowered her voice to semi-imitate Inuyasha's. "I'm being a jerk by demanding thanks for after someone already gave it! And I say shut up to anyone I want to! Beellll-lllul-lllluiuli." she had her tongue stuck out for that last part. "I'm not in a mood for this."

"Sorry, my brain just went haywire for a second, okay?"

"If I say okay, will you yell at me again?" Kagome asked, her voice back to normal.

"I just said I was sorry!"

"See, you're doing it again!" Kagome looked him in the eye this time.

Her mouth kept moving, but Inuyasha couldn't focus this time. He couldn't explain it, but his entire mind just turned to mush right then and there as he looked deep into her irises, intoxicated by each and every little bit of them. Each streak of color, each outline, each eyelash, all of her astounding eyes and face… it all together made him loose control. He just couldn't help it. Maybe it was because he hadn't been near her in so long? If that was the reason why, then he knew he never wanted to be away from her for that long again. Actually, he didn't really want to be away from her at all. He just wanted to be with her always. Who cared if they fought a bit? Who doesn't these days? He already knew that when he did talk to her, he could actually… speak. He could say anything at all, and it would be true. She would take it all in and understand it all. She listened. She could explain everything that he couldn't.

Kagome's eyes dropped half closed. "You have no idea what I just said, do you?" _Hrm, third déjà vu in ten minutes. Is that an omen of some sort?_

Inuyasha gulped. _Oh jeez_, _I am so screwed. I think this is what they call a crush…_

Kagome growled and rolled her eyes in frustration, only to discover that a young man was standing right next to her. "Hm?… Hojo…?"

Hojo swallowed hard and took in a deep breath, trying to get a hold of himself. It had taken all of the courage he had in his body just to be standing here right now and was, truly, just a sneeze away from bolting out into the cold screaming like a little girl who had just seen her teddy bear in a noose. _Breath… Calm…_

"Er…" Kagome raised an eyebrow in confusion as Hojo just stood there, breathing hard.

Inuyasha and Miroku were also rather perplexed, as their faces showed.

"Higurashi…" He said, jerkily bending his neck to look at her.

"Yes…"

He was silent, unless you counted the inaudible sound of sweat beading.

Inuyasha was slowly to understand what was going on, considering all of the evidence. Nervous sweat, trouble speaking, intent gaze though completely aloof: Oh yeah, he was going to ask her out. Out of a crush's mindset.

_A crush…_

The back of Inuyasha's mind turned on the growl button. And cranked it up.

To such an extent that Miroku's wide eyes turned over to his roommate with ruffled fur. "You okay…?"

"**I am perfectly fine.**"

Miroku slightly nodded. _The hell you are…_

"Um, Hojo…?" Kagome flagged her hand in front of his face. "You there?"

"I was wondering-" And his mouth shut.

Inuyasha narrowed his gaze… and aim.

_Well… I've started it. Might as well finish it. _"I was wondering if… um… this weekend… if you wanted to…" his voice began to waver and fade. "Go see a movie or something?"

"You want to know if I want to go see a movie this weekend?" Kagome asked back. Who could blame her: only half of what he said had been audible.

Hojo gulped before quickly nodding his head.

Inuyasha gulped as well as his eyes turned to Kagome.

"Sure, it'd be nice to get out of this place for a little while."

Hojo's eyebrows shot up on his forehead. "Really?!" He asked, a boyish grin growing across his face, his entire stature changing to be more happy and less worry.

"Why not?"

Hojo gave a massive sigh of relief as his mouth just went for it and smiled like a fool. " Oh, that's great! Just awesome! I, um," He started walking away towards the cafeteria entrance. "I'll call you about time, okay?"

"That's fine. Ack, Hoj-!"

Too late, the poor boy tripped over a chair and fell down a ledge about a foot in height. He sprang right up and did a quick double take, as if he had no idea what had just happened. Which, in all honesty, he probably didn't. " I'm good! I'm good! I'll, um, I'll call you, Higura-,er, Kagome! I'll call you!" He called back to her while waving.

Kagome chuckled in an 'aww, that's cute' kind of way before waving her hand back at him, albeit less enthusiastic. "Okay…!" She turned around in her seat to see Miroku shaking his head. "Hey, where'd Inuyasha go?"

"You might not miss a thing in Foreign affairs, Kagome Higurashi, but your social skills and interpretation are the prefect definition of the I.Q. of a squished Dodo bird."

* * *

Ukay… not the greatest. It's just one of those chapters you've gotta get through. Lets hope I can pull through this next one with less trouble, then I'm home free til the end…

Do I sense foreboding?


	16. Out of the Lime Light

-1A/N - I have a new system. Write three pages a day, and I can get this story done by Nov. 30. However, I have to go out of town this weekend, so that makes things a little more complicated.

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 16

Out of the Lime Light

* * *

Friday, January 14, 10:22 PM

Hakodate Japan

Kichinkyo building, Women's Dormitory

Sango's face dropped in disbelief. "I can't believe it. Miroku was right: Your social deciphering skills _are _that of a squished dodo bird." She said, rubbing her forehead while leaning back in her desk chair. "Aiyaa, Kagome."

"What? What is going on?" Kagome really didn't know what the heck everyone was getting so upset about. She was just going to see a movie. If they wanted to come along, they were more than welcome. "You guys can come along if you want. I'm sure Hojo wouldn't mind."

"Oh-ho, I'm sure he would!" Sango countered back, giving her friend a pathetic smile. "Kagome, hon, think ! Hojo deliberately asked you, only **you**, to go see a movie - as in a big dark room that shows films. Note: BIG, DARK, ROOM - on a specific day and time, otherwise known as…?" Sango outstretched her arms, edging her friend on to figure out the answer.

Kagome shifted her weight on her bed. "A date. Yeah, what about… wait…" on went the light bulb. Kagome's eyes widened as her hands slowly moved up to cover her mouth. "Holy crap he asked me out on a date."

Sango threw her arms up in the air in relief, falling back in her chair and almost causing it to fall down. "FINALLY! That took a total of two days, but we finally got it out of you!"

Sango's roommate however, most certainly was not relieved. Kagome was wigging out. "Oh no, Oh no, no, no no no… I, I didn't mean to, I mean, I was-"

"Yes, I understand that you didn't know you were being asked out." Sango said in a calmed tone.

"But, if I went through with it, I'd be going under false pretences!" Kagome pointed out, gripping the metallic railing of the end of her bed. "He thinks that I REALLY want to go out with him, when… I really… kinda don't…" She weakly managed out.

"The reason of that being?" Sango asked while turning around in her chair, mindlessly kicking one of her textbooks out of the way of her foot. "He seems nice."

"Well, yeah, he's is nice and all. But when was the last time I actually talked to him, as actually _talking?"_

_"_Besides today?" Sango's finger went up to her cheek.

"Yes, and I'm not entirely sure that today even counts."

"Hrm…" _A time when I saw Hojo with Kagome talking… I've seen his eyes go loco when he's seen Kagome before…_ Sango rocked back and forth in her chair, which, according to the rocking back and forth action, needed some repair. "Gimme a minute…"

"I can give you an hour if you want." Kagome mulled out, releasing the bed from her death grip and slipping down to her bed covers, fiddling with a sleeve of her pajamas.

"I might need that amount of time…" Sango fingered her neckline, rubbing her index finger up and down her throat. "I can't think of anything."

"Exactly. The only real thing I know about him is that he is head of the Hakodate club-"

"And sought after by a good many of the female students at the school." Sango added as she wrapped a large red and white comforter around her chilled body.

"Really?" Kagome was rather surprised. Sure, Hojo was nice in character and facial features, but he was a little slow on the draw. And clumsy. Why there would be a hoard of girls running after _him_… she had no idea. In all honesty, she was a little more surprised that there weren't more people going after Inuyasha (_Arrogant, pig-headed, incompetent jerk. He's lucky I'm kind of in need of him at the moment, or I would have pummeled out his brains) _, he being the roguish, dare-devil, hottie that usually attract women like magnets. _Well, there is the whole part about him being a half demon. That could be of influence… did I just think Inuyasha was a hottie?- Ack, focus, Kagome._ "I wouldn't think that."

"Well, he's probably a nice change from all of the male punks and jerks that roam around campus." Sango suggested, turning in her chair slower now. "And his looks are a perk."

"He'd be a nice friend, but not a boyfriend." Kagome shook her head in guilt. "just… no. No way."

"So what are you going to do?" Sango asked, standing up and waddling over to Kagome's bed and plopping down on it. "Are you going to go on the date?"

Kagome let out a put out sigh. "I'd really like to go see a movie, though. Pretty soon we'll only have those old propaganda films on T.V. to watch, and I want to at least see one more good foreign film before then."

"What makes you think foreign films will be banned?"

Kagome stared at her roommate with the look of '_Don't play dumb, you know perfectly well why.'_

"…er, good point." Sango said hoarsely.

"That reminds me…" Kagome brought her legs up to her stomach to hug. "My proxy server has been blocked.'

"Oh great." Sango rested her head in her hand. "That's the last thing I needed."

"Hm?…" Kagome looked at her friend's face, which for a moment had shown stressful worry before being covered with a look of calm. "What is it Sango? What's up?"

Sango sighed loudly. She looked as if she was really desperate to tell Kagome something. She really did. But her mask held it's dominance in place as she shook her head. "It's nothing."

"Why do I not believe you?"

"Well…" Sango eyed her roommate at a side-long glance. "I might just tell you if you were to let me in as to what the root cause of your worrying is."

"What?" Kagome was not expecting that one to be pulled up. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"I mean that since mid-October you've started acting more… fidgety, I suppose. I mean, from what you told me after those few days here at school, you were powerful and had backbone, and blew up at guys simply because they refused to help you -which might have been a little nuts, but that's okay . But every now and again I'd notice that you'd be looking over your shoulder nervously, as if you were waiting for someone or something to come after you. In Mid-October, you started calling your friend Yuka pretty frequently when all of this stuff with the government began, especially when the Cascadian Civil war broke out. Then in November, although still strong willed, you began to loose focus in things you were doing and started looking around at your surroundings more often. Not to mention you were getting less sleep at night (your eyes showed it), and you checked foreign news everyday, twice a day even. In December you lost your backbone and made your best to stop having big fights with people, especially with Inuyasha. After you're birthday you started acting REALLY odd, as in waving my old metal detector around like you were playing baseball for the Hokkaido Fighters odd, not to mention all of the scratch marks that were all over your body. And after New years I noticed that you started crying yourself to sleep, and then you blew up at Inuyasha (which I would have too if he had been that mean to me after making him a gift like that) and said that your family had left the country, you hadn't talked to Yuka in ages, and all of this other stuff. And now I KNOW that you've been acting nonchalant and stuff so that we wouldn't think anything was wrong. Inuyasha might be dense enough not to see it, Miroku might be too optimistic to see it, and Rin might be aloof enough not to see it, but I'm not! Please, Kagome, you're like a sister to me (_albeit awkward)_! I never really had a good friend that was a girl before: I always had to just go to school and then help out my father and brother with their stuff. So please, tell me what is going on! You can trust me!"

Kagome frowned at herself. This time she wore the face of one who desperately wanted to speak, only more feverishly. Kagome sighed deeply, slowly inhaling all of the bitter air she could before looking at her roommate's worried face again. "Oh… I really do want to tell you, Sango. But… I just don't … It's… It's all really complicated and…" she bowed her head.

Kagome's voice came weakly. "I don't want anything bad to come upon another person who is close to me. This is something… to put it bluntly, I'm still trying to figure it out myself. But this… it's something no one should have to know they would be connected to. I don't want to put you in that kind of danger as well."

Sango's face soured in a worried annoyance. "Kagome-"

"Sango, I'll make a vow for you."

"Eh?"

"If… If I do figure this all out, and I can give you information that won't hurt you, then I will, upon the… soul of my… fa-ther…" Kagome's voice trailed off. She knew immediately that Sango would be suspicious. If only she had better control over her diaphragm!

But she was right, Sango was suspicious. However, Kagome was quick to change the subject. "Let's get back onto the main focus of this whole talking thing- WHAT AM I GONNA DO ABOUT THIS WEEKEND?!!"

After shaking her head a bit to stop the ringing in her ears, Sango returned her gaze to her friend. She decided to let the later matter aside for the moment: she'd pick it up later on. "Okay…you want to go to the movie."

"Yes."

"But you _don't _ want to go on a date with him…"

"_Yes_."

"And you aren't going to tell me what's wrong." Well, it was later.

"**No**."

"Was worth a shot at least… okay…" Sango, who was scratching at her chin, forcibly turned her head to her roommate. "You should be able to do this better than I can: You know politics inside and out. Think of something a politician would say."

"Japanese or one with freedom of speech?"

"Both, to break the monotony."

"'Japan forever' and 'no comment'"

Sango's eyes slid halfway shut out of annoyance. "Not funny."

"Yes funny."

"No."

"Yes."

"Shut up and think of an answer already!"

Kagome put her hands on her hips, her previous worry taking a step back in the priorities of her mind. "Hey, you told me to answer like a politician, not a diplomat. Those are two very different things."

Sango rolled her eyes. "Sure whatever (You should've been a political science major instead of an art major). Seriously, Kagome. Think of this as something political. Like it's going to be in a speech to be given in front of the entire U.N."

"Fine, fine… er… I was… not under the impression, upon his… inquiry… yeah, that's the right word… upon his inquiry that he was indeed asking me… out…" It still hadn't quite sunk in yet, the reality of it. Her? Being asked out? _Focus, girl._ "…So, although he might have interpreted it as a date, I do not or did not think of it as a date." Kagome gave out a sigh of relief. "Geez, that's harder than it seems!

"Not bad for a first political statement." Sango said approvingly, a childish grin on her face. Apparently her woes had also taken a little trip out the window while duct taped to a rocket. "Though… maybe if it was a little shorter, you know?… and… hrm…perhaps if you just put in the 'I do not think' and no 'I did not'."

"Okay…" Kagome cleared her voice nobly. "How about… To me, this is not a date. He might think otherwise, but my.. Uh… opinion… has been said."

"Almost…"

"He might think of this as a date, but I do not?"

"Hey!" Sango clapped her hands with glee. "That was really good! And that wasn't too hard was it?"

Kagome groaned and flopped onto the bedspread. "Sango, before, I asked _what_ am I going to do about it. You just made me make a very pretty sentence that states that."

"I'd also like to see what Inuyasha is planning…" Sango said under breath.

"Hm?"

"Nothing!"

* * *

Saturday, January 15, 6:43 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Kagome was rather happy that she wasn't going to have to walk to wherever the closest cinema in Hakodate was, the tram system still being in operation. And although the ride from the university to a shopping district was pleasant, with the light of different shop windows reflecting like glittering diamonds in the snow walls around her, it was still dangerously cold (the only thing she hadn't donned on herself was a metallic face mask) and Hojo… the poor fellow, she really did feel guilty about accepting under accidentally false pretenses. He was obviously overjoyed to be going out with her -or maybe really liked the movie they were going to see- , but he was so very nervous. Occasionally he would try and start a sentence, but it would wither and die in his vain attempt for conversation.

But it was as they were receiving the tickets into the theatre that something happened that put her off in an even larger funk.

It just so happened that she caught a flash of silver in her peripheral vision.

Normally, she wouldn't mind something like that: After all, she was surrounded by snow. That silver little thingy could've well been flickering light from the white, cold fluff.

But it was something else that told her it was more than just snow, as well as something that turned her insides much more icy. It was her gut feeling, in her stomach, that she knew she had two golden eyes glaring profusely at the back of her head.

Also, Inuyasha was standing right behind her in line. That was a good tip off, too.

As was his rather loud growling .

Hojo turned around with a stunned look on his face. "Oh! H-hi there Inuyasha! What brings you here?"

"I'm going to watch something."

"Oh? You seeing _Ivory Raven_ as well?"

"Yep. I'm seeing the same thing as you."

Kagome stood rigidly, quietly controlling her anger. _That…that pompous jerk! He's come all of this way, following me, just to keep on 'throwing punches' at me!?… I hope he brought those chopsticks so I can snap them again!_

Hojo went to get foodstuffs as they went inside, but Kagome decided to stay next to him while getting food. Although she knew that he was just going to get more zeal in his giddy joy (and more death glares from a certain half demon), she had something a little bit more important on her mind. She was not terribly fond of going into a large, empty room all by her lonesome. But as she began to mull that over in her head for a while, by the time she got into the actual viewing room, she welcomed the darkness of the room: it better hid the dreadful melancholy that had swept over her face.

"So, what do you think the movie is going to be like?" Hojo asked. He was clearly oblivious.

Kagome eyed Inuyasha skulking up the stairs on the other side of the theater, passing their aisle to one a little higher up. "Uplifting, I hope."

Kagome sighed quietly, letting her head slip into her hand.

After a few minutes, with a few more people showing up so that the theater was roughly a third full, the lights grew dim, and commercials began playing. This was usually at least a slightly entertaining part of the whole movie watching business: laughing at all of the adverts or being awed at the grandeur of a very creative commercial.

But this just made her spirits sink even lower. The first ad was one displaying the 'greatness' of the Overdeclaration and how 'We all should re-invoke the full Over-Declaration to make a better Japan!' as the flashy Prime Minister stated. Next up, in place of the old soda commercials, there was one for a new company called _Rising Sun Soda Inc._ , which gave a demonstration with several people from around Japan which drank both the _Rising Sun_ versus a _Pepsi, Coca-Cola, _and _Cidona._ The result - 100 percent of people preferred "the Drink that honors our Serene Nation". But the last one truly made her cringe. It was an advertisement for a new TV. Show, called "Nation Savers!". The presenter of it quickly said that they were going to get a quick bite of what the first episode was like before the screen switched, showing the back of a police car chasing down a couple on a motorcycle. The car finally caught up, and the two police officers in front jumped out of the car and shot two bullets into the legs of both people, sending out terrible shrieks of pain. "The little -" A curse word spoken by a police officer had been edited out. "Heh, think they can try to skip the country, neh? I'll show them a thing er- DOWN ON THE GROUND YA SLIME!"

Kagome knew immediately that the woman, who was obviously heavy with child, was a fox demon. She also noted how not far off in the distance, she could make out a small boat bobbing in the icy ocean.

"AND THAT'S JUST A SNEAK PEAK!" the man said, coming back on screen. "If you're into strong action for a strong nation, tune in to Nation Savers Weekdays at 9:00 PM on channel 9!"

"Now, time for our feature presentation." said a cool man's voice over the surround sound, and the room became black except for the floor lights.

Kagome noticed that down below in one of the front isles, a woman was hurriedly walking out of the theater, the sound of muffled sobs beating into the large, dark room. Hojo gulped and cleared his throat.

She had to admit, the movie wasn't half bad. The plot was rather old and over used - the classic Romeo and Juliet with a modern twist - but the acting a was realistic, the sound design flowed well and the ending was very resolving. However, it was spoiled: The commercials prior only helped to re-inflame her worries and nervousness which was now a firestorm of anxiety, Hojo kept looking as if he wanted to do or say something but his petrified figure couldn't budge, and Inuyasha's growling was so loud that she was positive that everyone watching the movie could hear him.

"Well, how did you l-like it? The film, I mean?" Hojo asked as they left the large dark room, idly throwing his popcorn bag into the waste-basket.

"It was nice." She lied, holding onto her small bag of gummy candy in a death grip of fear and anger.

She heard an angry snort behind her.

"Well…" Hojo began as they walked out into the main foyer, again clearing his throat. "If you don't have anything else to do… I was wondering if you might like to… go and look at some of the shops? They should have stuff up for the snow diamond festival by now."

"Snow diamond festival?" She'd never heard of it. "What is that?"

Hojo courteously opened the door to outside after they put on their warm wear, and continued the conversation, unaware of a layered half demon trailing him.

"It's a large festival that's held in Hokkaido in late January. They sell all sorts of little trinkets and decorations for snow tunnels and stuff."

Kagome nodded in a daze like form, letting her '_date_' yak his head off. Her mind was getting slightly tired of his composure: It was just too much of being nice and respectable, as well as nervously fidgeting for about two and a half hours straight. Honestly, she'd rather been chottling her '_stalker' _and giving him a piece of her mind for being such an ass. However, since she also knew she couldn't risk angering him so much that he would stay away from her for a very long period of time, she's have to settle for just quietly giving him a piece of her mind.

Which was why her brain snapped back into business when she heard an annoyed sigh behind her before a very ruffled Inuyasha stormed off in front of them, making a beeline for the tram which just stopped.

"Kagome?" Hojo asked when she stopped when he was in the middle of a word. "Is something wrong?"

"Hojo…" How was she going to get away from him to get to Inuyasha? She didn't really know, but she knew that she had to do something, because the half demon's attitude was… okay, pissing her off. She didn't need more stress.

But she was stunned at herself at how naturally an alibi came up. "Hojo, my stomach… I'm not feeling that good…"

"Do you need to sit down?"

She faked a wrench to her belly. "Ugh… No, I… I think I should… get home…"

"Look, the tram is right there. Here, I'll take you back to the university."

"NO!" Kagome cried. _Oh jeez, what am I gonna use as an excuse this time?_ " I… uh… think it might be…" Stomach wrench, wince, fake cough. "Contagious… I don't… want to get you sick…"

"Kagome…" Hojo said slowly, putting his hand on her shoulder. " I wouldn't mind if I got diphtheria from you just as long as you were safe."

_Well, he is devoted, at least._

Hojo whisked her off to the tram and helped her up the stairs in a gentlemanly like fashion. He held her shoulder as they slowly shuffled down the aisle to an empty seat and plopped down in it.

Which just so happened to be the one across from Inuyasha's not so happy face.

Kagome waited a few minutes for her '_date'_ to become fully entranced with the oncoming road in a nervous whimper before she let her eyes flash dangerously to the occupant across the way. She blew air at his ear to get his attention, but it simply flicked in movement and the Half demon remained fixated on tearing holes in the back of the seat cover.

She tried blowing again, but the same thing happened.

Next she blew so hard she almost whistled, but he simply nudged away in a sulk towards the window.

Kagome took a quick glance over her shoulder at Hojo before taking her risk: she chucked her now frozen solid candies at the half demon in the head, making a distinguishable clanking and cracking sound, along with a small gong like tone that she swore must have been Inuyasha's hollow head.

Kagome groaned as Inuyasha simply rubbed his head and kept looking out the window.

She was really beginning to wonder what was his malfunction. He was the one who had been an ass to her (or she assumed so anyway, not emitting the possibility that she could've been one to him too), and had only been stalking her with such a sour look on his face that it seemed like he wanted to knock off her head with a baseball bat.

_Wait a minute_. Kagome thought.

**_"Hey, where'd Inuyasha go?"_**

"_**You might not miss a thing in Foreign affairs, Kagome Higurashi, but your social skills and interpretation are the perfect definition of the I.Q. of a squished Dodo bird."**_

_**"I can't believe it. Miroku was right: Your social deciphering skills are that of a squished dodo bird."**_

_Okay, something I'm missing…_

Inuyasha was mad. That was obvious.

_He seemed to be trying to make things better the other day… until Hojo arrived… _Kagome sunk her head down in thought.

_He left the table after I said I would go see a movie…_

_He's been giving me dirty looks- no, he's been giving the general area I'm in dirty looks…_

Slowly her eyes widened in a realization, her hand reaching up to her mouth. Kagome turned and peered at Inuyasha.

_Inuyasha…_

She canted her head.

_… is gay?_ For some reason, a little chunk of her heart did a summersault and landed right on it's face while plummeting down into a big dark hole. _He… I never… would've guessed he'd like Hojo…!_

_Wait a minute. _Kagome shook herself for a moment. _Inuyasha gay?! What about that Kikyo woman? Or his perverted crap he's done to me? And others?_

A memory file replayed in her mind.

**_"Yoo hoo, look at me!" She grabbed the front two straps of his A-shirt and jostled him around a little. "You know, it's Kagome Higurashi, the girl you loath and despise?"_**

_**"I don't loathe and despise Kagome Hikurashi! I lover 'er! Oh, oh look, the flamingo knows the Charleston!"**_

This time, Kagome's mouth didn't have fingers to hold over them. It simply hanged limp on her jaw.

_Wait._ She shook her head very violently now, her heart involuntarily racing. _I'm letting my mind go nuts. Just… just stop it Kagome. You've got much more important things to think about. Besides, he's already displayed how much he _doesn't_ like you- er, me._

Still, she couldn't help that little music, a leitmotif, from growing in the back of her mind.

After what seemed like another good fifteen minutes, The tram skidded to a halt at the entrance to the tunnels of snow that went into Hakodate University. Kagome made haste of getting off, trying to beat Inuyasha so he couldn't get too far away from her. However, Hojo also just so happened to be following her. "Kagome, do you think I should take you up to your building?"

"…No…" She had to force herself back into the sick getup. "I… I think I'll be okay… Besides…" She eyes Inuyasha briskly getting off the tram with a strong look of pure loathing directed in her general direction. "I see someone… who's heading the same way I am… so…"

Hojo was bending down so quickly that she barely had time to react. "Hojo-?!" _TURN YOUR HEAD! TURN YOU HEAD!_

Which she kind of did. Hojo gently kissed her on the side of the mouth and on her cheek. However, in this way she could speak. "Hojo! You're going to… get sick now!…"

"I told you, I'd give you my life." He said, his eyes in a giddy haze, a gentle smile across his face. "Be safe back to your dorm. I'll get you something to help you get better real quick!"

But Kagome had barely even waited to hear what he had to say before she bolted down the tunnel for Dasunoshi, Kichinkyo, and few other dorm buildings. She felt slightly guilty about leaving poor Hojo there in the cold (literally), but she had to talk with Inuyasha. If not to find out why he was mad, at least to mend his psyche wound.

_Okay,_ She thought as she jogged down the way. _Dasunoshi is farther than Kichinkyo is from the entrance to campus. I should catch him-_

And sure enough, there he was, walking slowly, his head hanging low, feet trudging along the ground.

"Inuyasha! Stop!" she called out, but it only seemed to make him move quicker. "NO! NOT GO FASTER, STOP! THAT'S THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT YOUR DOING!"

"OH, SO THE HALF DEMON IS SO DUMB THAT HE DOESN'T EVEN KNOW WHAT STOP MEANS?!" He didn't even look at her, though he did slowly down and finally halted.

Kagome quickly made her way up to him, her breath slightly taken from her and given to the frosty air. "Why are you so angry at me!?"

"I ain't angry."

"You're a lousy liar, you know that?" Kagome said in a huff as a couple walked by. "Either tell me why you're angry with me or why you followed me to the movie."

"You mean date." He said the last word with utmost spite.

"No, I went to that movie for the movie, not the company."

"Oh please-"

"It's true! He might have thought it was a date, but to me, it wasn't, because it wasn't what I agreed to when he asked me! I agreed to see a movie because I wanted to see a good foreign film before those were abolished by the government too!" she said in an angry hushed tone.

"Then what about that last part of this '_movie' _appointment, neh? That kiss seemed-"

"For your INFORMATION!-" Boy was she glad no one else was around her at the moment. "I moved OUT of the way of that kiss, because I want my first one to be with someone I actually care deeply about!" And then she firmly smacked her mitten covered hands over her mouth.

"…what…?"

Kagome waited for a few moments before her hands would allow her mouth to work again. "…you… you heard me…" She said.

Inuyasha rolled his eyes. "Oh please." he said before walking off.

Kagome gripped her hands as if she were groping two orbs that if she crushed would make things better as she jumped up and down in a circle and growled/groaned loudly. Then, realizing that she was soon to be all by herself, panic struck her to chase after him. "You!… You!…"

"I, I, I what!?"

"I dunno, you tell me." Miroku said, looking up from the steps of Kichinkyo building, Sango sitting next to him.

"Miroku?! What are you doing here?!" Inuyasha was getting close to seething point. Kagome quickly came up behind the man with ruffled fur and stopped a foot farther away from Inuyasha. "Miroku? What-?"

"Dasunoshi building is under lockdown. We have to stay elsewhere tonight." Miroku said in a rather cool voice, a hand wiping at invisible sweat upon his cheek and riding up into his hairline.

"What?!" Inuyasha really wanted to hurt someone now. All he wanted to do was just get out of here so he could fume a bit, let off steam so he could think clearly. However, Sango's next words set his own priorities out of the limelight.

"There's been an a murder and attempted murder at Dasunoshi." She said.

* * *

Grope on that one for a while. 


	17. Epiphany of the Tessaiga

A/N - Okay, so from my calculations, there will be twenty five chapters and an epilogue. Only a little bit more to go, guys!

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter Seventeen

Epiphany of the Tessaiga

* * *

Saturday, January 15, 9:15 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Hakodate University, outside of Dasunoshi Building, Men's Dormitory

It didn't take long for Miroku to explain all that he knew about the attacks: He didn't really know all that much in the first place. Apparently at about Seven o'clock - he'd been in his dorm room doing… well, he didn't exactly disclose what he had been doing, though Kagome noted a slight tinge of blush on his cheeks - The attackers came into the building and went up to Bankotsu and Jyakotsu's dorm. Then, from what he gathered as he had glanced at the dorm room while taking the long way out of the building when the order came, they were rushed, and for about twenty minutes… something had happened in the room, and it did not look pretty. Miroku noted a bile like smell reeking from the room and had seen a fair amount of vomit on the floor. Then, at approximately 7:30 PM, Miroku heard the door burst open and two people running down his hall, along with Bankotsu screams for help.

Kagome did not like the looks of it as she watched medics speed off with the badly slashed Bankotsu in an ambulance trailed by a few police officers, with another ambulance rumbling off with the body bag containing Jyakotsu at a much slower speed; it didn't have to rush to the autopsy.

Inuyasha watched the two cars head off behind him, his eyes in semi-deep thought and confusion. Although he felt slightly guilty about it, his mind was still a good bit focused on his very strong desire to kill off Hojo's chances of spreading his idiotic genes at the moment. He knew that it was rather selfish, which was saying something for the consciousness of his own persona, but it was a very demanding subject.

Sango slowly walked up behind them, making her way through the small crowd that had gathered outside of Dasunoshi. "Kagome? I just finished talking to the Dorm Manager, and she says it'll be fine for Miroku and Inuyasha to stay at Kichinkyo for a few nights, as long as they don't-"

"-And who says I even _want_ to stay with you banshees?" Inuyasha jutted in.

"-do anything stupid…" Sango let her eyes slide half closed out of annoyance and took a deep sigh. _Like that, for example._

"Okay then, where would you plan to stay then?" Kagome asked , her mind still wandering and analyzing the importance of Jyakotsu.

"I… I don't know, but who cares!" Inuyasha took a haughty stance. " I can stave off perfectly fine on my own; I've done it before, haven't I? Screw you and your little, toasty dorm. Besides, everyone would be howling to get me out of there in ten minutes. "

Kagome, still not paying attention to what was being said, replied in a calm, collected tone. "More like you assume everyone else is an ass without thinking that maybe its _you_ who wants out and away? You do the same thing when someone is trying to be nice to you, too."

Sango's eyes crept back open, sliding over to look at what the half-demon's response would be.

At that moment, he was wondering the same thing. "Uh…"

"Inuyasha, you can tough it out and bear us for a few nights." Kagome took a deep breath, beginning to come back to her normal self before adding in, a little bit more quietly. "Besides, I don't want to find out another person I know died. Freezing to death is no better than being sliced." Without another word, she turned on her heel and collected Sango before walking slowly back to her dorm room, leaving a slightly confused young man in her wake.

_But she… Hojo, and… he asked…_ A gear moved into proper place. _…She's… concerned about me?… _

That little thought was enough to send a massive welling of pride and vigor to his chest, as well as a small blush to his face. His now very proud and swelling head pushed aside his… Livid jealousy and decided to focus on that good little up-lifter. Quickly he made way to follow her and her roommate before the clunking of his feet against the icy ground forced another gear into place.

_She had no idea she was going on that date… _That vigor in his chest deflated like a balloon of shame. His slow realization about his actions (and then her reactions) made Inuyasha push aside the up-lifter, consequently pushing his jealousy off of the table of awareness that was his mind. It made a nice splatting sound. _Oh shit._

The half demon let his shoulders sink down a little more as she grudgingly watched her walk further ahead of him, all too aware of the… unkind words, to be polite, that he would ultimately have to face soon.

_You could just apologize._

_Shut up, brain. Have you been reading that Buddha book?_

_Yep._

_Then stuff it._

Miroku, now in the company of a few other young men and women whom were talking in the hushed tones of rumor and gossip, stood as he saw the others coming around the corner. "So, dear Sango, shall you show me to your wonderful room?" He asked with an inward smirk, bowing in a gentleman like fashion.

"Show you to my room, yes. Let you in, no. I still don't trust you after that soda-or-champagne mix up." She said in a slightly sour voice.

"Oh come on, Sango!" He started as she and Kagome headed up the steps to the building. "You know that wasn't my fault: It was a screw up on the waiter, that's all!"

"As much as I'd like to believe that, it doesn't kill the possibility that you asked him to make that little error. Call me psycho all you want." Sango held open the once unlocking it door. "In with you and your little dog too."

* * *

9: 32 PM

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

"So, you think that the murders had something to do with the government?" Miroku asked in an incredulous tone.

"I don't see why not." Inuyasha shrugged, his face contorted as he gulped down a parcel of soboro chicken with his jet black chopsticks. His roommate could tell, though, that it was neither the killings or food that were truly bothering him. "I mean, they keep on calling for the reinstatement of the full Overdeclaration against demons and relations, and are always yakking about how they despise us. Jyakotsu was a demon of pure family line, but Bankotsu has some human in there somewhere. Not a lot, though. He probably just got in their way."

Miroku watched Kagome and Sango walk up to their dorm room and open the door, with large blankets over the laundry in the baskets they held. "Need any help wi-?"

"NO!" the two women called back, shutting the door behind them fiercly, leaving Inuyasha and Miroku once again alone in the main wreck room of the dorm floor.

"Might as well try…" Miroku gave a lecherous grin (which Inuyasha quietly withheld the urge to rip off his face) before continuing. "I don't really see any point, though, in the government killing Jyakotsu. What's so important about him? There are loads of other full demons out there; your brother for example."

"Half-brother." Inuyasha said.

"Fine, half brother. But Sesshomaru would be a much more likely target for the government to kill, if they were looking for intimidation. If they were looking for justification for their… frustrating work," Miroku said in strained voice. He too was beginning to feel the pressures of the increasingly authoritarian government, as he planned to explain to Inuyasha in a moment. He hadn't really gotten to talk to him well recently. "and some way to make a show of themselves, then they would have had a bunch of innocent demons rounded up and forced to do something illegal, and then shot in justice. Then there would be an outcry from other demons and half demons alike, who would then begin civil unrest, and then the Government would declare martial law. They'd deem all demons, half demons, demon relations, and sympathizers guilty of treason and terrorism, have them all murdered, and make a fascist state back like that of before world war two. And then we would be officially screwed, but if the Government was really trying to do something against demons, they would have done what I just said, not just knock off one, unknown college student. If anything, it might hurt them."

Inuyasha took a moment to pull all that in and decipher it before giving out a loud sigh. "How'd you just think that up…?Whatever. How would it hurt the prime minister though? It won't be reported anyway."

"I really wish you two would stop saying the attacks as if they were inanimate objects." Sango said, coming out of her dorm room and walking over to the two men. "_They_ were and are people, not a **_it_** and **_that_**."

"Sorry…" Miroku fingered around his neckline for a moment as Sango pulled up a chair to join them at the table.

"You can continue. I just don't want you to be so callous." She said, sitting down and pulling her red and white comforter over her shoulders.

"You two sound like and old, married couple." Inuyasha muttered.

"Hm?"

"Nothing, Miroku. Keep goin'."

"Kay… I was going to say that you have a good point, Inuyasha. It- The attacks aren't going to be reported."

"Just because their demons…" Sango shook her head in annoyance. "This is sick."

"The murders or the government?" Miroku asked.

"Both." She said. " There is nothing ever glorious or wonderful about a murder, even if 'justified'. A person who kills a killer intentionally is no better than the killer…. But the government…"

"The meaning of a government is a system of organizations, processes, and policies which work together to provide a nation's citizens with a safe, orderly, and protective environment to live in." Miroku stated, clearly repeating something that was written in one of his textbooks. " This thing is an organization, singular not plural, which is deciding more and more often on its whim what it wants to do. And it most certainly is not providing a safe and protective environment to live in: Only orderly, and from the murders tonight, I'd say that's about out the window too." Miroku's shoulders sagged. "But it's more than the murders… you know, ever since the second semester began, we've had these people in our military tactics class hounding us endlessly? They keep on asking what we would do if we were to plan an attack on Korea or China, or how we would carry out covert action against an internal force, and they keep on telling me that 'It is in your best interest if you change your roommate. You'll find that there are plenty of respectable people for you to be with.'"

"Gee, thanks." Inuyasha rolled his eyes and slouched onto the table. He didn't feel like eating all that much any more.

"Those other people said that, not me, dolt."

"Fine… you'd had better told them off, though." Inuyasha said with every intention of hearing an answer.

"What, are you crazy?! If I told them to stuff it they'd stuff my head and stick it on a silver platter!"

Inuyasha chortled for a moment. "At least you get a warning. I bet you if they saw me only once, they'd weasel some way to say I'd broken a rule and haul my ass away. And I have a feeling that I would have my head on a silver platter after not all that long. And I'd get that from either humans or demons." He reached back to his pocket for a cigarette, but then remembered that he was trying to give that up. So they weren't there. He gave a small, inward growl.

Sango set her elbows up on to the table top. "Well… you two aren't the only ones being fed crap from the government."

Miroku raised his eyebrows. "You too?"

"No, I just have to deal with medical insurance companies. I'm talking about Kagome." Sango waited for the two of them to understand this, but she was ultimately answered with confused faces. "Ugh… It's kind of obvious, isn't it?!"

"Not really." Miroku said.

"Uhh…" Inuyasha went back to a certain December night that concerned small, black robots.

Sango slapped her palm to her forehead. "Idiots, she _told _all of us…don't you remember her explosion at Inuyasha over the cell phone? She said that she's being watched by the government, her family has left the country, and the company that killed her dad is back in business? Don't you think that's being fed crap from the government at all!?"

Inuyasha was inwardly punching himself for his ignorance. Jab, cross, hook, oh, an awesome uppercut.

Miroku simply let his head drop a bit out of shame. He didn't beat himself up as bad.

"I know that you both have issues with the government and harassment, but you've learned to cope. Whatever is being thrown at her…" She paused for a moment, figuring out the best way to put her thoughts verbally. "Kagome hasn't had enough time to even begin copping…" Sango's eyes lingered on her dorm room. "I've tried to get her to tell me what is going on, but I can't… Maybe if one of you try… it's a long shot, but please," Instead of looking at either one of them, Sango turned her full focus at the half demon sitting at the table. He shifted uncomfortably from the gaze from her eyes. "Can't you try and help her?… We all haven't known each other for a while, but Kagome… she's friend I've never known. It's like… Miroku, what is a relationship you'll never forget?"

"Besides the one with you?"

Sango swallowed, but shook her head, blushing. "B-besides that one…"

"…Okay… my first girlfriend. Eleven years old."

Sango seemed slightly put out now, but she simply gripped her fists and kept at it. "I guess it's kind of like that. I've never actually had a real good friend that was a girl before, who actually cared and listened and talked from the soul before. One that I know I'll always remember. And Kagome fits all of that."

Inuyasha swallowed hard. _Trust me, I know exactly what you mean, Sango…_

"She said she wants to protect me from this thing, which can only mean whatever thing is, it _is _very big. But I want to protect her from it, too, but I can't do it alone… I need some help…"

Inuyasha slowly stood up from the table. "Fine," he said, and without another word, he briskly paced off to the dorm room and gently knocked at the door. Miroku nor Sango gave a look of surprise. Things like that were always easier to see when one was on the outside of the relationship.

Inuyasha gently pushed the door open to see Kagome quickly yanking a movie disc out of the disc player and back on top of a stack. "What's that?"

"Oh…" She fiddled with a plastic cover to the stack. "It's nothing… just… an old family movie, first Christmas and all."

"Hm…" Took a step into the room with caution. He was all too aware of the fact that she was still very angry with him, and that any false moves would get him quickly evicted. "Must be nice… as a… reminder of family…" He gave a small cough.

"Yeah…" She said softly. Kagome picked herself off the ground and sat down on her bed, facing him now. "Why you're here?" It was put in a rather cold tone.

"Oh, er-" Maybe he should have thought a of a reason before he got there. That would have been helpful. Inuyasha stuck his hands into his pockets, as if expecting to find an answer in them. Which, ironically, he did, as his fingers curled around a small, bead like structure. "A while back I got this from my brother. He said that an old woman gave it to him, and he gave it to me. I checked it out on my computer, but there was an extra encrypted file that said that I should give it to the daughter of Yuichiro Higurashi because it would help with the paramount, whatever that means." He swallowed and dared to look at her in that face. "And since you're the only Higurashi I kno-"

"Yuichi-" Kagome now gave him her full attention as she flung herself up to look at the bead. "the daughter of my dad- that's me! What's a data bead doing saying it'll help me?!"

"No clue." He responded truthfully, thankful that she had forgotten that she was mad at him for the moment.

"Well, what's on it?" She asked, as he placed it in her hands.

Just one small touch…that was all it took for Inuyasha to feel the urge to grab onto her hand. Slowly he breathed in the-

"Earth to dog-boy." Kagome said flatly, waving her hand in front of his face.

"Eurrr… huh?"

"The bead? You said you looked at it."

"Oh, right. It has something called the Ekusubosa…"

Kagome nodded: she had no idea what an ekusubosa was, but she knew she was about to find out.

"and something about an associate,"

Kagome's mouth shifted at the thought of that information.

"and a Christmas light company."

Kagome's eyes widened, her head snapping up to stare at him in sheer disbelief. "A… a Christmas light… Did it, by chance…" She began, apparently trying to contain her shock. It wasn't working that well. "say what it's name was?"

"Yeah…" He eyed her over closely, trying to read her body and face for information. It wasn't easy when his mind was trying to go back to puppy land. _Shut up, head, and let me focus!_

_Sorry, I just thought that was what you wanted._

_Not now! SHADDUP!_ "Yeah it was called… Su…"

Kagome stared at him so intently that he felt a small bead of sweat grow and fall from his forehead.

"Sunset corp, I think."

Kagome didn't stop staring with a deadly vigor, but her eyes seemed to drop from his face to his chest, her jaw slacking up a bit. "Sunset corp… the associate…"

"I…" Somehow, he had a small inkling that this was not what Sango had intended by helping. He was supposed to be talking with her, consoling with her, teaching her the meaning of coping. And who knows, maybe letting his hand slip on to hers… or something more pleasurably helpful like that. It'd help him, at least. But now she was in such a state of terror that he knew he had to do something. Something to drag attention away from this corporation, keep her from loosing it, as she seemed to be heading towards. "Uh, my… So how do you know my brother?"

Oh, brilliant.

"OUT, OUT, OUT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Kagome screamed with all of her soul, forcibly kicking him in the rear, out the door, and slamming it without even checking if he was okay.

Both Sango and Miroku slumped their heads down on the table in livid annoyance.

The door for which Inuyasha's face effectively rammed into opened up, and his eyes glanced up at the young woman in yellow pajamas glaring down at him. "What're you looking at." he said in a frustrated tone.

Kagome heard a loud crack and an effective string of curses outside her door. She shrugged it off and stared intently at her computer screen, watching the little processing bar fill with color as her lap top finished reading the data on the data bead. "C'mon, c'mon, c'mon… hurry up, dumb computer!"

A small window popped up and opened, showing the four documents Inuyasha had mentioned. The moment she moved her finger across the mouse pad, though, a second window popped up. Kagome moved herself closer to the screen, and very slowly she clicked on the document, named _The Second First._

She pushed her face back a bit when the file loaded but was all in an encrypted cipher. Quickly she closed the file, but went back to the window it came from. She dragged it over to a shortcut on her desktop to her decryption program, which instantly began to process it.

"Okay…" Kagome said to herself, her voice shaky and palms wet with perspiration. "This thing had better give me some information on all of this…" She highlighted the four other documents, and opened them.

The first was the file that had originally shown up as encrypted for Inuyasha. A normal text file, but she still read it aloud, to make sure she didn't skip over anything.

"Please give this gift, a fang of sorts, that shall wield the iron truth to the daughter of Higurashi, Yuichiro. She shall need it in the paramount, which was started by her very conception. Her pulsar is her start and end, and this information must reach her if she is to stand a chance. Only one had done so in the past, and he only barely made it. But her stakes are higher now, for what was never meant to be made is so in her. May this protect her…" Kagome's face contorted, the sensation of despair groping onto her. "Who gave this to Inuyasha's brother…?"

She shook her head and moved the file aside, going on to the next one. Although she already knew what the information would be, Kagome decided it would be better to be thorough. With an invisible vice gripping her lungs to the point of tears, she clicked open the file named _Christmas Lights._

Sure enough, she was right. It was an advertisement for Sunset Corporation, complete with it's old, flashy logo; The letters in a bold, red, plain print over a swish like structure, yellow in color. Again, she read aloud to make sure she didn't skip anything. " This winter season, why not make the holidays even merrier with some strings of Sunset Corporation's new Holiday lights? With just the touch of a button, you can choose which colors you want to shine, if you want them to flash, or even play a specific mp3 file to really get you in the mood! Just one more little bit of perfection from Sunset Corporation: The company to fill all your spirit's needs!" She angrily rolled her eyes before hitting the X button with an admirable show of force.

Finally, she looked at the final file; a picture file, from the look of the icon. Kagome tentatively clicked it once, and then twice. Her photo viewing program booted up, and took a moment to load before the picture popped up.

Kagome had to whip her hands over her mouth to keep herself from screaming as she kicked back from her desk with such strength that the chair fell back onto the dorm room floor.

_It- it can't be-!_

She was shaking more from just her body. Her soul felt as if it was being jostled around like a ragged doll. As best she could, Kagome crawled back to her desk, salty water now tasting the paleness of her cheeks. Her hands groped at the desk top and she heaved herself up. She had to see it again. She had to make sure it wasn't her mind playing tricks on her. That she was not loosing her grip on reality.

Sadly, she found that she was very much in the real world as she stared at the picture.

It was the same one. The picture with her father, her mother, herself, and the other man in the vineyard, all so joyous and merry. The only difference, though, was as blatant as the hair on her head: Around the other man, there were several distressed, red, looping circles. In type, next to his head, it read: "Associate, and partner, Steppy. YOU MASS MURDER! YOU STARTED IT ALL!"

With a ping, the encrypted file finished, and popped up on her screen. Kagome, once wiping at the tears blurring her vision, peered at the picture and newspaper clippings beneath it.

"Seattle, U.S.A. July 16, 2017. The city of Seattle, just two days ago was ripped apart by that largest earthquake the nation and the world has ever seen, splitting the once great metropolis apart and sending tons of pollution into the ocean, causing tsunamis, and-" The text ended. Kagome looked back up at the picture, and saw it was indeed Seattle, for she saw the top of the Space Needle leaning on the remains of another nearby building.

But something seemed odd about the picture. It was then that she noticed that there was small text underneath the photo, apparently in relation to the odd coloring of the water. She read aloud once again. "The pollution that fell into the Duwamish River has contaminated the entire Elliot Bay, which has now begun to spread to most of the surrounding regions around Seattle. This has led to a massive algae bloom of Dinoflagellate."

_Wait-_ Kagome went back to the folder from the data bead. Indeed, she had missed the document named _Ekusudosa_ in katakana. She clicked it open, but she didn't have to try and figure out what the odd words said.

Kagome went back to the file with the that had sent Inuyasha to her with the bead. She read one part aloud. "_The Second First_."

She knew. It all rushed together. Why her father was so concerned she knew stuff about his company's history and products, as her mother had explained to her long before. Why she had been given that map of the metro links. Why-

Kagome rushed over to her bed and yanked out the metal tin from beneath it, took out the disc labeled Shikon and threw it into her computer. She looked at the second photo, the one of Moscow. "It's not showing me what will happen, it shows me _where _it has already occurred.…"

Her hand went over her mouth once again. "Washington D.C. … it was the one that followed Moscow…"

She shook her head. "Those idiots… Ekusudosa, I should have known instantly…

" I was born, so it began. But… the pulsar, the Shikon no Tama… It failed because we… everyone, all humanity and demon existence… It failed because we flailed… because I flailed…"

Kagome was now, perhaps for the fist time in her entire life… she was calm. She was determined now. She knew what had happened, what was going to happen, and what it would lead to. She knew she had to see it through to her death. _It happened before, but under different circumstances, and under different pretences. He knew what was going on , or so the book says. I've had to figure it all out… I guess it's good that I'm a Buddhist…_

Kagome's weight shifted backward as she slowly leaned back in her chair, realizing what her destiny was going to be now. "I can't believe it… that quick, that fast… But I will, so as to save us all. Save us from being guilty, from being the slaves of the corrupt, apathetic, and hubris filled governments…" She smirked. "The first and seventh were in the United States. I suppose it's only fitting that it is there that things first begin to follow suit… Maybe it'll last a few thousand years more than it did this time around…"

She sat up and picked up her cell phone. She turned it on, but didn't dial a number: The person she was talking to couldn't be reached though numbers. "Dad, I have to talk to you. I think I've got it figured out, but I'm not fully sure. But… now that I know my destiny…" she sighed. "I guess it'll all be worth it for everyone else. I'm pretty sure that the one before me didn't have to go through that, so I was wondering if I was thinking it through correctly." And she flipped the phone closed.

Kagome stood up and looked at herself in her mirror. Of course she couldn't afford to let anything happen to her before the tenth came, or else it would all be for nothing.

But then something else came into her mind as she stared at her reflection. "Wait… the one before me… he kept on living after it all, right? He was there to lead them to safety… But…"

_I guess I don't have this as well figured out as I thought._ She sighed. _But… at least I know… at least I know more, and at least I have a better understanding of what is going on._ She gave herself a determined look in the mirror. _And how big this all is. Like Grandpa said in his book, Be bold in your crisis, and fell it straight on!"_

She paced over to the door and after taking in a deep breath, threw it open. She looked out in the main room and saw three faces all looking at her in worry and anxiousness. She calmly made her way over to the table and asked the first question for which her epiphany hadn't answered. "So, why do you guys think that Jyakotsu and Bankotsu were attacked?"

* * *

January 16, 1:02 AM

_She was asleep. But she wasn't dreaming, and she knew it. Kagome sat up in her bed, her covers wrinkling about, but the covers weren't there. Instead there were the many stars, galaxies, planets, dust, comets and gas all floating about in it's own calculated perfection that was the cosmos. She looked down at her stomach, and smiled at the glowing pulsar. "You're the reason for all of this, aren't you?"_

_"And you are too." She heard her father say just in front of her. Kagome looked up, strangely invigorated with courage and strength. "The Shikon no Tama could only grow in you."_

_Kagome nodded. "Yes… Dad, I think I know most of-"_

_"Yes, Kagome, you know **most** of it." Her father said, his face stern, but also worried. "But you do not know it all yet. You know that, don't you?"_

_The smile dipped off of her mouth, but Kagome still nodded. "Yes. Like at the end of this-"_

_" What you will face, Kagome… it is worse than death. And at the end… no one actually knows at all what will happen. I've tried to talking with several others here, but they either cannot or will not tell. I did not suspect that they would in the first place, but I still had a small hope."_

_Kagome turned her head down in thought and a small bit of shame._

_"And also…" Her father continued. "You cannot forget about your mother, brother, grand father," Kagome snapped her head up. " your sister," **Sango…** " your lover" **…In..Inu… **She mentally shook her head. Or consciously shook her head, or something like that. It just wasn't physically done, even though she wasn't in the physical world._

_"And the remaining secrets of life and of this prophecy which you must learn…" Yuichiro looked down for a moment before willing himself to speak to his daughter eye to eye. "Kagome… please know that I do love you, and your mother, and brother, and all of them. I… After this, you won't be able to see me again, because things will have changed."_

_"What?!" Kagome gripped her covers. "Dad?! What are you saying?"_

_"Know that is will all end when it began, in April. Now, Kagome… I-"_

_"No, I don't want to stop talking with you! I never even got to know you when I was growing up! I'm not going to let that happen-" Kagome threw the covers off of her legs._

_"**KAGOME, NOO!!!**"_

_"AGAIN!" She yelled back. She put her foot down so as to touch upon the ground her father stood on, but there was none there, and she suddenly felt herself falling._

_ Falling,_

_ down_

_ and down,_

_ her Fathers' yelling image shrinking above her,_

_ her scream etched out from existence_

_ from the whizzing sound of the burning gas orbs flying by her._

_She flipped over,_

_ her hair flying straight up behind her._

_ The moment she did, her ankle passed between two revolving white dwarf stars._

_Kagome shrieked like a banshee as she groped her foot, _

_batting at the fire that was feeding on her flesh._

_ It felt as if someone had taken a machete_

_ heated up inside and oven,_

_ and sliced through her joint again and again and again, but it wouldn't cut._

_ Instead it would only turn more and more charred and blackened,_

_ and cause more dying pain _

_that she could not even summon words to begin to describe it's true sensation._

_Her stomach took a second tumble_

_ as she felt her speed quicken._

_ Kagome, now willingly crying,_

_ tentatively opened her eyes, but they were forced open by the speed that she was moving at. _

_She only had seconds to act._

_ A small, rocky planet was hurtling itself closer and closer to her,_

_ closer and closer _

_to her foot. _

_Kagome twisted around just in time to listen_

_ to hear it zoom past her, _

_several bits of ice blasting off of it's surface. _

_She couldn't watch it fade,_

_For her face was forced to keep looking forward. _

_She watched a blue, gas planet _

_Fly by her, far to the right._

_Then a green gas giant,_

_A little closer to her._

_Kagome ducked down to avoid_

_The large rings that orbited a large, yellow gas giant._

_She held her breath, for she could not avoid the large red planet _

_Now before her._

_She entered._

_No air._

_She couldn't breath._

_Fear was it._

_So much pressure._

_Going to implode._

_Help._

_ Save me._

_Anyone, please._

_I don't want to die yet._

_I don't want to sacrifice myself for nothing._

_Five atmospheres._

_Six._

_Seven._

_Please._

_Inuyasha._

_Eight._

_Seven. _

_Six, and then five._

_Kagome let her heart beat again as she felt light against her face._

_One atmosphere, and she was out of the gas giant._

_She kept falling._

_Speeding up._

_Clothes beginning to rip._

_She moved her shoulder to avoid hitting a small,_

_Rocky, red planet._

_Light speed._

_She saw a blue and green planet with white clouds above it._

_It opened up, _

_Showing it's pitch black center,_

_Brown, polluted and infested fangs dripping with lava._

_The planet was spinning her._

_Trying to sacrifice her._

_She tried to stop it, _

_But she couldn't see anything any more._

_Spinning too fast._

_All a blur._

_"**LET GO OF MY DAUGHTER, STEPPY! SHE'LL DEAL YOU TO HELL SOON ENOUGH!**" _

Kagome stopped spinning. Stopped falling. She opened her eyes, and for a moment, she saw her father's eyes. But then she blinked, and instead she saw the ceiling of her dorm room, and she gasped for air in her massive knot of blankets.

But then she stifled a scream. Slowly, Kagome pulled her right foot out from the tangle of covers to find it charred around the ankle, small streams of blood dripping from it.

* * *

Feeling confused? Good, that's the way you're supposed to feel. I can't wait until a few chapters away… then I can FINALLY explain all of this… 


	18. Change, Progress, Explode

-A/N - Wondering where I have been for ages? Didn't read my profile like I've told people to do on numerous occasions? I am here to give you answers ( and chapter)

Less than a month ago, I broke my foot at Tae Kwon Do. Right before my black belt test. Not only could I not go downstairs (to where my main computer is; the one with the story on it) or walk, I really didn't want to because I was not in a good humor. Then throw in Thanksgiving, the black belt test (which I did get my black belt at, though I plan on forcing my master to let me do the physical part once I'm back to full strength), two essays, college planning, Christmas gift getting, friend counseling, Computer mayhem, and many other things, I have only been able to finish this chapter today. It might have been done earlier, but my not-so-subtle hints to numerous family members to get off the computer so I could finish this went unheard.

My foot is now mostly better : no major, big tae kwon do stuff, running, or anything of the like until Christmas. But now I have another problem; my finals are the week before Christmas. Literally: my last final is the day before Christmas eve.

Some of you might be thinking "Why is he worrying about Christmas stuff? He's Buddhist!" True, but most of my family is Christian, so to compensate for them, I have New years festivities a good bit early. Also the spirit of Christmas which has come to grow in our family is now much less religious and more on the 'being happy giving' thing, which is rare, I've discovered.

Either way, there are about 7 chapters more, and that includes the epilogue. Bare with me: I'm aiming to get it all done before 2007, but I'm mortal.

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 18

Change, Progress, Explode

* * *

Thursday, February 3 - 4:07 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Kagome turned around in her chair, fighting the urge to scratch at her healing foot under the bandages. At least she could take them off in three days. "Really? Transferred?"

"Yeah, it was really odd." Eri replied, twiddling with her hair while glancing out of her dorm room window at the beaches of Okinawa. " She didn't even tell us or anything. Ayumi and I just came back from shopping and all of her stuff was gone and there was a note explaining everything. Both of us… Ayumi and I are really freaked out." Eri took a quick peek out of her dorm room door to double check no one was eavesdropping before continuing. "I mean, we know that Yuka is really political. And vocal about it. I know that what she was calling for… and what most of us secretly want… she really ticked off some of the wrong people. And with the stuff that the government is doing now…" she sighed. " It was just so fast and unnatural. It's really hard to believe that she just up an transferred to the University of Aomori."

"Huh…" Kagome curled the side of her lips. _The movers should have done better research. Yuka would never transfer to Aomori: She hates the place._ "Well, thanks for the info, Eri. I really should get back to this research paper."

"Yeah, I have some work to do, too. If you ever get a chance to go down to Aomori, can you check up on her? Or…" Kagome heard a small gulp over her cell phone. "…See if she's even there?…"

"Of course." Even though she knew Eri couldn't see it, Kagome gave a slight nod of her head in confirmation. "Bye Eri."

"Goodbye, Higurashi."

Kagome turned off her cell phone and placed it on her desk, idly staring at the few lone paragraphs on her lap top screen. There was no way she was going to finish the essay today, not with everything that was going on in her head, not with everything that she was planning.

It was a good thing it was due Monday. And was only for the Hakodate club instead of a real class.

Sango opened the door to the dorm room and slammed it behind her stalking over to her desk chair and plopping down in it with a frustrated groan.

"It didn't go well?" Kagome asked, a cringe warily placed on her face.

"That depends on your definition of 'well'. Ugh…"

Whipping her good leg out from under her, Kagome wheeled her chair over to her friend. " Obviously not what meets your definition of well. What happened?"

Sango sighed again, heaving herself up long enough to toss off her different layers of parkas and coats (which thankfully were starting to lessen in quantity) before sitting back down and clearing her throat. "Okay… Well, after my final trimester exam today, which was murder,"

"Be thankful you only had one." Kagome interjected before officially shutting up.

"Yes, that's true. At least it was- Gah! I'm getting distracted!" She violently shook her head and then continued. "Okay… after my exam I went and searched out Koga, like you recommended. But when I asked him where I might find Ayame, he turned as white as a sheet."

"Wow. That's saying something, considering how tan he is."

"I wish I knew his secret. Anyway, when I prodded him about it he said I might be able to find her outside of the Rabichu building." She paused for a moment.

"Yes, I know the Rabichu building is the main one for management and banking."

"Sorry, just double checking." Sango scratched her neckline for a second before continuing. "So I went to Rabichu building and just as I got there, Ayame walked out of the building. So I called out to her, and she came roaring over to me looking like she just got her tail stepped on!"

Kagome scrunched her eyebrows in confusion.

"Yeah, that was my reaction. She immediately started making some big fuss about… well, she was talking too fast for me to really figure out what she was saying, but then she asked me what _you've _been doing!"

"Me?" Kagome was close to flabbergasted. She was pretty sure that this time she wasn't suffering from the lack of social skills, as so was claimed. "Why-?"

"Getting there. I tried to calm her down enough to actually speak naturally, but she began bawling!! Aya said that she thought that Koga was going out with you or something because he was always looking at you when you went by or was acting friendly and such. I do admit though, I can see why she though so; I've seen him look at you with a fancy…" Sango gave her friend an inquisitive look. "You aren't going out with him, are you?"

"Not as far as I know. He might think so, but I don't."

"Phew, that's good, since that's what I told her. Nice adaptation of the Hojo line, by the way."

"Thanks. Keep going."

"Right. I asked her whether she was going to ever show her face to you again" Kagome made a distraught face. " - not really. That's just a summary -"

"That's what I thought."

"And Ayame…" Sango's eyes gave a look of curious concern. "She gave me this look… it was, well, I don't have any real word or two to describe it, but she just look at me in a way that kind of said, 'Are you insane? How could I go and see her?!'"

Kagome's face melted in sickened discomfort. Being loathed was not a pleasant thing, after all. "Do you think…" She paused to swallow down her unappealing emotion. "What if I went and talked to Koga about this? Maybe ask him to go and talk to her, and-"

Sango shook her head. "No Kagome. I think that right now you'd best stay a good distance from Koga unless you want to wake up to find Ayame's fingernails in your throat."

"That's a lovely mental image."

Sango shuddered. "Sorry, accident of the tongue."

"We all have those. But, either way…" Kagome pushed herself back to her desk and again fought the urge to scratch her throbbing ankle. "…Koga is a friend of mine, even if he wants to make it more than that." She had a mental image of herself with Koga spurt up. Almost instantly she gave a small shudder with the small music in the back of her head blasting the picture into small little bits that could only be seen through a mega telescope. Yes, telescope. That is how far her mind punted the trash. " How am I just supposed to say "Please go away so that your girlfriend doesn't try and maim me."?"

"I'm not sure… That isn't something I've had to _deal _with before…"

"SPEAKING OF WHICH!" Kagome thrust her arm into the air and staring at her semi-startled friend. "I am keeping word on my vow. I have found a few things about… What, um… I've been dealing with, which I can tell you, and I was… hoping I might be able to… barter this information for some about what has been bothering you….perhaps?"

"Oh…" Sango's body became somber and calm, her focus seemingly collected all at one point. "Okay, then…I guess… Sure, that's fine."

"Yeah…" Kagome prodded the ground with her bandaged foot, noting the small tingling feeling that resounded from it. "So… shall you go first?"

"Only if you don't want to."

"It's just… the stuff I **can** tell you… is kind of… all over the place. It might take me a while to get it all out without saying something I shouldn't have." She lied. _I don't know if you'd be willing to tell me what's wrong if I tell you this little of what I'm facing._

"Oh, that's fine…" Sango complied, secretly anxious. It had taken over a month, but finally, **_finally_**, she was going to find something out! "As for me…it's my dad. He's been…" She sighed in an almost… Angry way? "… That idiot. He's been drinking on and off for years, but… Now the doctors are saying that it has really hurt his liver, which is all he needs now. I mean, he became paralyzed from the waist down after that stroke when I was little, and then started smoking so much his lungs became crap, and now… I know that the first part wasn't his fault, but the rest…" She let out a long, agitated breath. "If he wasn't my dad I would really like to hit him upside the head and tell him to stop screwing himself over. But he keeps on saying that he doesn't have long anyway, and it's his body…"

"Oh… I'm sorry, Sango-"

"No, no, no. I'm not sad or anything. Since my mother left, I knew that it would only be a matter of time before he would let himself go and wind up getting himself killed. It's just… He still thinks he's the same old martial arts master that he was before the stroke. He still thinks he can take it all head on, but he can't! It's like he's some ignorant teenage boy."

"Or college boy."

"That might be a better statement. But either way, I'm just so angry with him!" And with a loud groan of frustration, Sango hit Kagome's bed spread with a resounding whack. "Sure, he might not care what all he does and it's effects to his body, but me and my brother do! And poor Kohaku," she shook her head. "He's even had to ask the neighbor's child, Shippo, to help out with things around the house as well as keeping on his medication and in line."

Kagome cautiously opened her mouth to speak. "It'd be nice if those nerve cell implants didn't cost trillions of yen."

"Yeah, it certainly would."

"Then I wouldn't have to feel guilty about knocking him upside the head: I could just squirt in some more nerves and no damage done."

They both weakly chuckled.

"At least I got to spend a little time with Kohaku during the winter diamond festival. He seems… so very stressed, it isn't fair to him, what my dad is doing. To any of us." Sango took in a deep breath, as if a band around her chest that kept her from fully breathing was suddenly cut in two. "So that's it. That is what has been bothering me."

"I'm sorry, Sango… I really am." Kagome felt a little better now being in the loop. As well as knowing that some people's worries didn't involve everyone in the world. "I guess I'd-"

"No, no, we can discuss in a little bit." Sango waved her hand at her. "You tell me what you can about what has been bothering you."

"Oh…" Kagome swallowed an invisible volley ball that had lodged in her throat. "O-okay… Now please, don't be angry with me if you think it is too vague?"

"I won't be. I'll be glad to at least have some inkling of what is going on."

"Okay… here it goes…" Kagome cleared her throat. "…Failing. I am failing. Flailing. I am flailing. In the mountain of steel and cement, in the temple of warring peace and lament, I flail, for I failed. I fail, for I flailed. I ask your name, you ask mine. Though you once said that I was swine, the rising sun is arrowed through, for setting is all it can now do. As long as we want the land to fall, to flail, to set, to fail, no call, it shall do what is done for our sail. Make it fail, make it set, forcing a flail. My koi swims the channel in gray tones, leaving behind it a trail of white stones. I ask you for help, you ask it from me, not realizing the need is with we. All are the guilty and are the slave. Too busy to know it with the roaring wave. But the light shall land upon your heart, swallowing it like the great dark shark. Finding you peace and love for the land, rising the sun to warm the sand." And she inhaled deeply, for that all was done in one breath.

Sango blinked a few times. "…Um… is that it?…"

"Not quite: there's one more thing. The key is sun set."

* * *

Friday , February 4, 1:42 PM

Hakodate University Campus, Hakodate

Kada Building, main Art Facility

Kagome cringed as she entered her Studio Painting class, weakly carrying her art supplies in behind her. She'd been right the night before: Sango wasn't all that happy with being given such a small amount of information… or rather, being given the information in a cryptic manner. Her roommate had been very quite for the rest of the night and this morning, and Kagome knew that although she really did want to make her feel better, she couldn't. However, that was not the only thing that was really making her mood roll down a hill today.

It was this class too. _Maybe I should have been a political science major…_

"Higurashi…" Professor Naraku called out from his desk in a particularly smug voice. "Come here."

Kagome dropped off her goods at her easel, then pacing over to the desk at the side of the studio, a feeling of livid annoyance digging into her stomach. "Yes, sir?" _I wish I could call you something beside sir… I have a wide variety of four letter words that would better suit you._

"Our last piece…" He began, interlocking his fingers together before his face. "I do believe that my instructions were to paint a landscape in surrealist style without the use of brushes."

"Yes, I know sir."

His mouth twisted a small bit. "Do not interrupt me. Ten points taken from your next project."

No one in the room seemed that surprised, since the highest grade there belonged to Kagome, which just so happened to be a C.

"I apologize, _sir…_"She struggled to contain the loathing there.

"And when you turned in…_this…_" He held up her painting, the tightly bound canvass jiggling as it was set upon his desk. "…What exact drug were you under when you made it?"

"None."

"None…"

"…_sir…_"

"Somehow I find this highly unlikely, for it is quite obviously done with brushes and a pathetic example classical abstract."

Kagome stared at her painting. Anyone who had a light bulb for a brain could see that it was, indeed, a landscape. It just so happened to be a landscape of Hakodate, at night, in winter, looking up at Hakodate mountain. It was most definitely surrealist, considering the morphing bees-into-people that were all over the place, and it was created with the blunt end of a stick. One could tell by not only the mud marks, but also the scratchy lines that she was forced to induce.

Not only that, but she was pretty sure that there was no way to make an abstract painting in classical, Greco-roman style: they were on opposite sides of the spectrum!

"Sir, I do believe that you are mistaken. I can even prove to you that I painted it in the proper way in the proper style."

"Do not try and call me an idiot, Higurashi. Another five points gone from your next project. Besides, _you_ cannot ever prove that you didn't paint it with brushes."

Kagome reached into her back pocket. "I recorded myself painting it." She said as she dropped a video disc down on his desk. "All six hours, two hours more than you said you be sufficient."

"Knowing that, I will have to flunk you on this project." He said with a malicious smirk.

This got the attention of some of the other students, who were now gasping at him or whispering in a heated fury.

"What?!" Kagome yelled back.

"Do not dare raise your voice to me, Higurashi. Another five points." He stood up and, taking her painting with him, threw it in a vat of black dye that was distilling in the middle of the room, spraying some of the other students' paintings with ink. "Next time, perhaps you will think a little bit more carefully before you decide to be an imp in my class, Miss Higurashi." He strode back to his desk and took a seat in his leather chair. "Then again, I shouldn't expect anything more from someone who associated themselves with Buddhist filth and half demons."

Two or three of the other students snickered, while a few others gave them a hard kick or glare.

Kagome slowly counted to three and turned around so as to not face him. It would not be a good idea to start acting a bigot…

_Although I guess I have been acting like one anyway…_

"Now get to your easel." Naraku pointed a pen at her easel.

Kagome stood still.

"I said…" Professor Naraku slowly got out of his seat with a menacing glare painted over his face, cool features glowering with a livid anger. "**Get** to your **easel**."

She stood still.

"HIGURASHI, YOU HAVE FLUNKED YOUR NEXT PIECE! NOE GET TO YOUR EASEL BEFORE IT BECOMES WHAT IS LEFT OF YOUR GRADE!!"

"You can yell at me if you want," She said, her back still towards him. "But you cross the line when you talk about my friends, family, and faith."

"Oh, _really_?" Naraku spouted in a wicked humor, as if he had just been waiting for something like this to happen, some reason where he could truly crush her. "You're going to have to get used to it, Higurashi. This country's turning into the way it's supposed to have been for decades, and impudence like that won't be tolerated neither in my classroom or this nation. Buddhists are nothing more than spineless, blasphemous barbarians that will only taste the wrath of the Kami when they die. And half demons are even worse, being-"

Kagome swung around. It was time for the third and final explosion of the Higurashi Volcano. "You sick, idiotic **_HYPOCRITE!_** DON'T YOU HAVE A BRAIN IN THERE?! THE BETTER WAY FOR THIS NATION; OH SURE! I'D THINK THAT YOU WOULDN'T BE DUMB ENOUGH TO ACTUALLY THINK THAT DEMONS AREN'T SUFFERING RIGHT NOW IN JAPAN! WANT PROOF? HOW ABOUT TWO THOUSAND REFUGEES FLOODING INTO BUSAN KOREA EVERYDAY!? BESIDES I DOUBT THAT YOU HAVE ACTUALLY HAD A CONVERSATION WITH ANY HALF DEMON IN YOUR LIFE, SO WHAT GIVES YOU THE LEVERAGE TO SAY WHO AND WHAT THEY ARE?!" Her head whipped around for a moment. "HAVE ANY OF YOU EVERY SPOKEN TO ANY HALF DEMONS BEFORE?!"

Only one girl raised her hand. Another freshman, bleached blonde hair, clad in clothing that although was popular right now wasn't very revealing, which was a rarity. She was the one who kicked the boy next to her. "Well then, I guess you do have the right to say something, but that doesn't mean all half demons are alike."

The girl nodded.

"**HIGURASHI KAGOME, YOU HAVE-**" Naraku began, but Kagome kicked his desk into his knees making them buckle and him tumble back into his seat winded.

"AND BUDDHISTS!? BARBARIANS?! SOME OF THE GREATEST CIVILIZATIONS OF THE WORLD HAVE BEEN BUILT ON THE IDEAS OF BUDDHISM AND IT'S DUAGHTER RELIGIONS! THE GUPTA EMPIRE! THE MING! THE CHIN! CHAMPA! SIAM! KHMER! KOGURYO! AND EVEN THIS JAPAN IS BUILT ON IT! WE HAVE SOME OF THE GREATEST BUDDHIST TEMPLES IN THE WORLD HERE, SINCE STUPAS COULDN'T BE MADE! SO WHAT IF SOME BUDDHISTS DON'T THINK HE'S A GOD, LIKE I DO! SO WHAT IF WE DON'T BELIEVE IN GODS! 97 OF THE WORLD'S POPULATION DOESN'T BELIEVE IN THE KAMI! BESIDES, WITH ALL OF THESE RELIGIONS, WHO IS TO SAY ANY IS RIGHT OR ANY IS WRONG! AT LEAST IN MY FAITH WE DON'T CALL FOR WAR JUST BECAUSE OF SPIRIT! WE RESPECT EVERYONE THE SAME, WHETHER THEIR BUDDHIST, SHINTO, CHRISTIAN, MUSLIM, JEWISH, GREEK, AMERICAN, BRAZILIAN, ZAMBIAN, JAPANESE, HUMAN, DEMON OR HALF DEMON!"She took a moment to catch her breath. "AND IT TAKES A WHOLE LOT MORE COURAGE TO STAND UP FOR PEACE THAN IT DOES FOR WAR!"

Naraku still was trying to get his diaphragm to work as she quickly gathered her things next to her easel. She also noticed in the corner of her eye a girl speaking frantically to the other girl who had spoken to half demons, who was zipping up her back pack and now was half way to the door.

Their professor was barely beginning to stand up, his face a wretched rage that would have made Adolf Hitler drop an egg. However, Kagome had had enough of this class anyway. Her art had been going down the tubes ever since she started having all of this stress thrown on her. It was probably time to change majors.

Kagome walked over to the door the other girl was holding open for her. "After you, Higurashi." She said in a purposely melodramatically respectful tone, bowing deeply. Kagome bowed back. "Thank you very much…"

"Ayuda Koika. Just call me Koika." she said.

Naraku was making wheezing sounds that sounded like profane curses to the two, so they quickly went through the doorway. But Kagome froze and poked her head back in the classroom, meeting many scowling, angry, worried, and a few proud faces meeting her. "AND GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT! I GREW UP IN A SHINTO SHRINE, DUMB ASS!"

At this remark Koika and Kagome made no delay in running like their hair was on fire out of the building and into the snow tunnels, looking for the way to the Hakodate Main Campus Office Hall.

Upon arriving, Koika whipped around the front desk. "Time for some major changing, methinks."

Kagome stood still for a moment, grasping the counter to catch her breath - the cold air seemed to really sap it out of her - before asking, "What're you doing?! We can't go back there!"

"Actually, I can, you can't. I work here." Koika said, tapping the space bar of the keyboard to wake the computer. "Geez, when are we going to get a light screen for in here? This xenon screen is going to blind me soon."

Kagome smiled, too tired to laugh. She took her hand off the counter and looked at the engraved numbers on it. "Why is Koga's number scratched into this metal?"

"So _that's _his name!" Koika said loudly, slamming her fist into her other palm. " He came in here the other day asking for old Kaede, and he left his number - he obviously forgot to put down his name - for her to call him back." She seemed to be in a slightly reminiscent mood. "Mm…"

"Koika."

"Ack! Sorry! Day dreaming!" She yelped, getting back to typing on the computer. "Sorry, it's just… ugh…" Her head hit the keyboard. So soundly that it startled her major-switching friend.

"Koika? Are you okay?"

She slowly pressed herself off the keyboard. "Yeah, I'm… okay…" She started typing and talking at the same time, an impressive show of multi tasking to Kagome. "It's just… ugh. That day I had just gotten back from acting class and I was still in a daze, and then came in and I acted like a complete bimbo."

"Don't say that - I'm sure you're just imagining things!"

Koika slowly moved her head out from behind the screen to look at Kagome. "There are cameras in this room. I have visual evidence."

She had her there. "Oh, well, I guess that is a little hard to imagine."

Koika rammed her head into the screen this time with a groan. Kagome was beginning to think that this girl was very physical with her emotions. "And on top of that, my hair was just… it was, and is, not helping."

"How so?"

"It's bleached."

"That is a little hard to miss, girl."

She clicked a few times at the computer before continuing onward with her conversation. " I know that, which is the problem. With my hair dyed blonde, I look like a little… oh what's the word…"

"Brat?" Kagome said absentmindedly.

"I'd go for clueless brat, personally. And I know that completely screwed things over."

"Er… then why did you dye it in the first place?"

"Old boyfriend." Koika said. "In high school he said that he liked girls with blonde hair. So I dyed my hair blonde and then went to surprise him in October, because he's at a college in Sapporo." She stopped typing. "He told me I shouldn't disgrace the country with my hair, and that he didn't want to be with anyone who dishonored Japan."

"Oh, he sounds like a winner." Kagome's eyes slowly slipped over to the girl typing on the computer. "Are you interested in Koga?"

"Okay, here we go. What do you want to change your major to?" She replied.

Kagome, though, was not a blind fool. She knew Koika heard her question, and had already given an answer in her apparent sudden flush of anxiety. "Er…"

"Should I put you as undecided?"

"Well, it's not so much as undecided as unspecified." Kagome said, tapping her chin.

"You can always change it if you choose undecided. And you can change your classes."

Kagome stopped tapping. "How soon will this become effective?"

"Next week, I think." Koika replied, taping on the keyboard.

"Then… Undecided sounds fine."

* * *

Saturday, February 5, 3:45 PM

Kichinkyo building, Women's dormitory

_Dear Hakodate Club member,_

_This evening, in spite of cold conditions on campus, we are going to be decorating Hakodate University for Valentines day, which is only nine days away. To get the school into the romantic mood, there-_

"Wow, you have a Taihe ia-01 Syukuchi?! Lucky! Mine is only Peho ia-200! " Kagome heard Koika ask Sango excitedly behind her. Turned out both of them were fans of the transportation device known as syukuchi.

"Well, Peho is a fair brand of Syukuchi. And at ia-200 it can really move."

"Yeah, it can, but it has only half of the-"

"Er," Kagome turned around in her desk chair. "I hate to interject, but can you guys be a little quieter so I can finish reading this e-mail? Then you can talk as loud as you want."

Sango and Koika nodded apologetically. As Kagome turned back around to finish reading, Sango spoke up. "Hold on. Isn't your email on a blacklisted server?"

Kagome sighed weakly. "Yes."

"Then how are you reading email?"

"Inuyasha let me get an observer status on his email, so I can read things that pertain to me. I can't send e mail, only read it."

Koika frowned. "Observer status? How does someone do that?"

She and Sango watched Kagome's arms fly up in the air from her sides with her shrug. "No clue. It works, though."

_-there will be supplies put in the main room of the Hakodate Crew building. Both members of each crew team are required to be there, unless there is an illness or other such occurrence. If this is so, please reply to the Hakodate Crew President's email. Drinks and foodstuffs will be available in the main room._

_Hakodate Crew President,_

_ Hojo Yuji_

Kagome leaned back in her chair weakly, listening halfheartedly to her friend's conversation behind her.

"So you've had your Taihe since it came out or did you get it upgraded?"

"I got it upgraded. I got the original Taihe Syu firstly, and used it to go around doing chores for my dad. I got to learn a lot about Hakodate that way."

"That is awesome. The Taihe company-"

Kagome stop listening now all together. _So… now I get to face Hojo…_She sighed. _I suppose I was going to have to eventually… At least I'll get to see Inuyasha, too. That'll be nice…_

* * *

7:32 PM

Outside of Main Hakodate Crew Building, Hakodate University

"Well," Hojo looked semi longingly at Kagome as she and Inuyasha - who was growling quite loudly - held their given boxes of pink and red décor, but gently shook it off. "Go get to work!"

_That guy's pep is so sickening…_ Inuyasha gave a small huff of approval as the Hakodate Crew President walked away from him. _Yeah, you better start walking. That's right; and don't let yourself get your head knocked off by a pole on your way back in…_ He shifted the weight of his box, making an odd kind of rustling noise at the nylon of his park rubbed against each other.

"Poor Hojo," Kagome said turning and heading down to the Yuiko-cha building, head place of biology and chemistry learning.

"Poor Hojo?! What's that load of crap got to get sympathy for?!"

"Er… Inuyasha… I'm not entirely sure I understood that sentence." Kagome said. She was a good few paces ahead of him by now.

"I mean what's so **_poor_** about that scrawny, air-headed ass swipe!?"

"Such pretty language…"

"What was that?"

"Nothing!" Kagome cleared her throat, fidgeting a bit under her numerous layers of clothing, which were getting a good deal warmer than they were a few moments ago.

"So why did you say "Oh Poor Hojo" like you were in love with him or somethin'!" Inuyasha made a pathetic attempt to imitate her voice, instead making a very squeaky version of his own. This sent his partner into a small fit of laughter. "WHAT'S SO FUNNY?!"

"You!" Kagome managed to get out. After being a given a bitter scowl by the half demon next to her, she began to contain herself and spoke normally again. "It's just, that voice was hilarious!"

"Oh shut up." Inuyasha said, hurrying his pace so he was now in front of her.

"Calm down, Inuyasha. The reason I said 'Poor Hojo' was because he is very nice, but he's so naïve."

"So you **_do _**love him!" Perhaps Valentines Day decorations were not the best thing to have Inuyasha put up.

Neither were they a good thing to give to Kagome, apparently, since she threw a red, cardboard heart at the back of the half demon's head, the clunking echo floating off the icy corridors like a ghostly drum. "Ow!" Inuyasha yelped. "What was that for!"

"Oh, so your head does work and feel! I could have sworn it didn't." Kagome said simply, walking slightly faster as they reached the slope towards the building's entrance. "And no, I'm not _in love_ or anything with Hojo. He's more like a faint friend, or acquaintance. Besides, why should you care if I was in love with him?"

"Well, I-" Inuyasha quickly shut his mouth before he let anything important slip out of it.

They were both silent the rest of the way to Yuiko-cha, briskly entering and passing a few other groups already there to get to their area; the study room.

The room's walls were a pale plaster, not showing any signs of ever being attempted being painted over after creation. The linoleum tile was black and white blocks, giving it a very dated look of about forty years prior. Kagome set down her box at the entrance, stepping down the few, circular stairs to get a better look around at the premises. The computers, though fairly modern, showed sign of attack, as if someone had whacked each one numerous times in frustration. The book shelves on the wall were all plain and gray, the books in place covered in dust, except for one section, which appeared to have been given extra attention. She walked over to it and looked at one book title.

_The Perfect Science of Humanity: Japanese Genealogical Supremacy_

"I thought this was the study room, not propaganda room."

"What place on campus do you know that doesn't have propaganda?" Inuyasha said, setting down his box. With his words it seemed the flow of chi between them began again.

"True. Though it's bound to be worse back in Tokyo…" Her voice faltered. "There's probably posters and flyers and everything all over the place, all red and white. All for Japan, all for the prime minister, all for the Overdeclaration. They don't even know what they've become…"

Inuyasha stared at her back for a moment before she turned around, once again collected and calm. "uh…"

"Come on, we can throw some streamers here and there and then say we're done, okay?" Kagome said kindly, walking around the desks of the room and to her supplies. "That'll make it as least unbearable as possible for you, ne?"

_Ouch._ Inuyasha grimaced, but She didn't see it; Kagome was already sorting through her stuff, making small mumbling noises along the lines of "That might look good…" and "No way in hell am I putting that up."

Koga watched the scene unfolding in the study room lividly from across the hall. The other half of his group was M.I.A. (_Again. I really have to get someone else)_, so he was sitting next to his materials in a bad humor.

"You know, it's kind of obvious that you like her, but it's unrequited."

Koga fell flat on his face from the startle of a woman's voice behind him. Slowly he picked himself up off the ground and looked behind him. "You… the desk girl…"

"My name is Ayuda Koika, not desk girl." She said, offering him a hand up off the floor. He batted it away and staggered to his legs.

"Fine. Ayuda. And what makes you think I'm in love with Kagome?"

"You mean besides the fact that you just called her by her first name or that you were looking at her like," She began to act out her words. "_Hold me, squeeze me, I'm yours forever, my little tootsie pop!"_

"Oh shut up." He scoffed, plopping back down on the bench. "Besides, your not even supposed to be here. You're not H. crew."

"No, I'm not. I'm a student who just switched majors so I had to talk with a few new teachers."

"Ah…" He was silent for a moment, looking into the study room, where a streamer war was beginning. "…Is it really that obvious…?"

"Only for those who use their brain."

"Hmph…" There was another pause as he thought. "Any way you think she'd drop the half demon and … you know…"

Koika sighed, shifting her backpack around on her shoulders. "It's not as easy as you might think to change a girl's heart. Something big has to happen; either progressive over a long time or explosive over a short period of time. Love can't simply be picked up and dropped off. It needs closure time."

"Interesting theory."

"I'm not done." She said plainly. There wasn't and hostility or belittling empathy in her voice. She simply stated a fact. The simplicity of her voice was interesting to Koga's ear drums.

"The thing is, though, is that it is also a progressive over a long time deal or explosive over a short period of time deal that can also push a girl into a deep passion that only the significant other can break; no one else. And when that happens, your screwed." She said, stepping in front of him and then away towards the entrance. "And no, Old Kaede is not back yet."

* * *

Just a few more chapters and then… mwahaha. (sorry for bad proofing. I'm being kicked out as I write righ- 


	19. Crack Down

-1A/N: Okay, we're almost there! I hope on getting the next chapter up Christmas weekend. And from there, it's all downhill… Finally!

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 19

Crackdown

Monday, February 14, 5:15 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Kichinkyo building, Women's dormitory

"Yes, Sango, I think the dress is beautiful. That's the fifth time you've asked me!" Kagome sat in her desk chair, rotating around a little bit by the movements of her feet. She was slightly amused by her friend's distress, but it was understandable; Sango was still very insecure about dating; especially dating Miroku.

Not that she, Higurashi, with one 'date' under her belt (although she still didn't think of it as one) was exactly the dating diva either.

"I hope your right…" Sango looked in the tall mirror on the back of their door, held together with a few well placed strips of duct tape. "I look like a peeled banana."

"Well, color wise, yes, but in reality, no." Kagome said, getting out of her chair and kicking her blankets out of the way so as to walk over to her distressed friend. "Though it's a really good shade of cream. I'd wear it if I had anything like it."

"What about that scarf of yours?"

"That was dyed red after Inuyasha's little excursion at the beginning of the year, remember?"

"Ah yes…" Sango said. The TV. played happily in the background, the last light of the day beginning to wane.

For both of them, the day had been very good, emotionally. For one, it was Valentines Day, which meant they could have plenty of chocolate, or rather, the chocolate that they could get their hands on. Apparently the government had just issued a black list post that included foreign products, but they couldn't get to all stores in time, so the girls had had plenty of cocoa products.

Second, in the absence of Ayame and Rin (technically), Koika was beginning to fit in quite well with the two of them. The girl had some off moments of clumsiness (such as tripping on her shoe, sliding down an ice covered hill and landing head first into a dumpster, screaming the whole way) and such, but she was very sweet and got along with them nicely in different but similar ways.

Third, Miroku was acting restrained with his lechery -as far as perverts go. He wasn't acting as a Buddha- and was deliberately seeing more of Sango in his day, which made her very happy. And as a perk, he usually would have Inuyasha tag along, which made Kagome rather happy as well.

And fourth was the fact that today was the first time in months that anyone had seen real sunlight. Just after noon the clouds had broken away and the sun burst through, seeming to lift the entire campus's spirit. In fact, Kagome was almost certain the snow dunes over the campus tunnels looked a fair bit smaller now.

It was all so joyful that it almost made her forget everything…

Almost. Not all the way.

And now Sango was going out on a valentines date with Miroku. That was enough to send both of them into a small fit of giddiness, though anxiety was also quite prevalent.

"I wish I had something less plain than this. It's just … blek. Like I said, I look like a peeled banana." Sango looked at her friend. "Are you sure this looks okay?"

"I'm not even going to answer that this time. I've answered it way more than enough times already." Kagome said, scrounging around in her small dresser.

"Okay… but it's so… plain!"

"We can fix that…" Kagome poked her head farther into her drawer. "Aha, that should do it. Or enough, anyway." She retreated from the clothing holder. "Sorry, I don't anything fancier, but the right strike of color can do wonders." She walked behind her friend and clicked a small necklace into place. It had a wire thin, dark golden hue to it, with a small, blue, glass bead hanging calmly in the center.

"Nothing fancy? This is wonderful!"

"All you needed as a small dab of color. The blue sends out a feeling of calm and serenity, as well as strength and boldness that is not to be taken lightly. And the gold painted wire adds a flare of exquisiteness, making you very classy."

"In western terms. Let's hope that there aren't any government nationalists wherever we're going tonight."

"If there are, you can say that is symbolizes Japanese prowess over the seas or something." Kagome said in an icy tone. "Or kick them and run."

Sango laughed. "I like the sound of that second part, but the first is the safest."

Kagome's cell phone rang just as there was a knock at the dorm door. Sango went to the door to meet Miroku, and Kagome to her cell phone to who ever was calling.

"See you at ten, Kagome!" She heard her friend call from the hall. She looked over her shoulder to see them off, but indeed, the two were already out. "Bye!" She called back. Kagome pressed the talk button on her cell phone, with slight hesitation after a thought of her father. "Higurashi Kagome speaking?"

"Hi Kagome, it's Inuyasha."

"Hi. What's going on, you sound-"

"I just got an email that we have to meet down at the Hakodate Crew building thing for something important. It wasn't sent by hobo."

"Hojo."

"Whatever. It said we have to get down there in fifteen minutes; all members, or else suffer educational repercussions. Get your coat."

"Kay, got it." This was indeed odd. A major h. crew meeting that wasn't sent by Hojo? The only other person she could think of that could sent out major notices were the head administrators or the deputy president of the crew, who she didn't have the faintest idea was so she went with the administration plot instead.

She threw on a few sweaters and her coat, her gloves, scarf, and hat, and headed out the door, locking up the room before she went. Another crew girl from her floor, Reheko, was also headed out the door. "Hey, what's up with that weird email?"

"I don't know." Kagome said, joining her as they went down the hall to the stairs, the elevator once again out of service. "I was told about it by a friend over the phone. I didn't see it." Seventh floor.

"Oh. Well it sounded very official, like the prime minister was writing it or something. And it didn't mention a single thing as to what we are doing, just saying that we must go to the building immediately." Fifth floor.

"I wonder… do you think something might have happened to Hojo?" Fourth.

"I saw him at class today, and he seemed fine. A little mopey like he's been since February, but nothing new. In fact he seemed enthralled that the sun came out today." second floor.

"Hm…" Kagome thought a bit as they got down the last flight of steps. "That's really odd."

The two walked rather quietly down the way to the main building of the Hakodate Crew, making small suggestions as to what might have happened, but cutting them off not long after, being far-fetched. They turned the last tunnel to the building entrance.

It was plain, un lovey-dovey glorified that it had been just hours earlier. The girls walked down the way, looking at the small bits of streamer and red hearts that had been there not long before, apparently.

But there was something else that made Kagome's stomach wretch and heart speed: Right above the door way, there in plain sight, was the Japanese flag, except that it had stripes leading from the center outwards like from pre world war two, and a white star in the center.

_This is bad._

They entered the building as quietly as possible, for it seemed that a balding man with thick glasses at the podium, was getting ready to speak. Reheko said a silent good bye before meeting up with her partner as Kagome walked over to where Inuyasha was standing, his fur very much ruffled. "Inuyasha?"

"That bastard, calling me an empty half…" he was most certainly in a frustrated fix, mumbling to himself, glaring at a body guard who stood near the man clearing his throat.

"What's going on?" Kagome whispered.

"Hm?" Inuyasha just seemed to have noticed her presence, calming a bit. "Hi."

"Good evening, members of the Hakodate Crew of Hakodate University." The man said. His voice was appalling, sounding rasp and high pitched, like nails on a chalk board mixed with a cat yelp. "As you most likely have already noticed, the president of the Hakodate Crew, Hojo Yuji, did not send you your informative email. Mr. Hojo has officially been removed from the rank of president and is now formally kicked out of the Hakodate crew for calling for a celebration of a blasphemous holiday that violates the sanctity of this divine country and its culture, with-"

A girl, second row, spoke out. "Valentines Day?! Against Japan?! Are you-" She was quickly taken by body guards, gagged, and taken out of the room. Kagome's mouth dropped with horror. The flashes out of the side of her eye made her realize that the national press was here, drinking in every word the man had to say.

The man didn't miss a beat. " - all it's glory. As such you all are immediately called to take down all décor that has to do with this clear violation of recently instated law 50067-A4. Furthermore, you shall warn others of the consequences that come with dishonoring this nation."

And there was a flurry of blinking lights and journalist banter as the crew members filed out of the building. Outside, both Hojo and the interrupting girl were standing, one morose, the other clearly agitated. A few tried to stop and talk to either of them, but several of the guards pushed them away, giving different members orders as to where to go.

When Kagome got the front of the well formed line, she felt her heart tighten in her chest. She was indeed terrified. What if they recognized her name? Especially Higurashi. That name would be an instant flare to Sunset Corporation and it's old product.

"Name?" the woman guard asked in a monotone.

"Hi-Higurashi Kagome."

"Right…" The guard flipped a page on her board of names. "You are to go to Yuiko-cha building with your partner. Partner's name?"

"Taisho Inuyasha." Inuyasha growled from behind the trembling Kagome.

The woman raised her eyebrows at the name. "Taisho? Hm… Don't go thinking about a job in politics, half life. You'll loose the other-"

"Yeah, yeah, real funny." He took Kagome's hand and pulled her through out into the tunnels, grumbling angrily to himself as he started down the way towards the main science building.

"Inu-" Kagome was trying to keep her arm from getting ripped out of the socket, but the half-demon holding her wrist was not exactly cooperating. Though she had to admit… the warmth of his flesh on hers (though insulated) was… almost electric. Something powerful and warm, that -_GAH! SHUT UP! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!_ _FOCUS!_ "Inuyasha!" It was a little louder than she intended.

"Hm?" He paused long enough for her to get her hand some blood into it again.

"H-hold on…" She rummaged around a bit in her parka, looking for something. Inuyasha looked at her closely and saw that she was trembling. And it was not because of the cold, considering she had enough on her to melt an iceberg.

Her hands slipped around as she opened her cell phone, hitting multiple buttons multiple times, then cursing slightly under her breath.

She was terrified. Truly so. So much that her arms began to waver, and Kagome's cell phone flew out of her hands.

Inuyasha caught it lightly in his mitten. "Drop something?"

"Oh, geez. Th-thanks, Inuyasha." She said. It took her a few more tries before she got a number in, but when she did she nervously held it up to her ear.

"Yunotoaija Sango speaking?"

"Sango? It's K-Kagome."

"Oh, hi Kagome! Something up?"

"Where are you?"

Sango raised an eyebrow at the question. "Still on a tram to the restaurant. Why?"

"Thank goodness…"She sighed quickly before pressing on. "Listen, something big has happened here on campus, and I'm pretty sure it was televised."

"Is this BBC televised or JIBC televised?"

"JIBC. Whatever you do, DON'T mention to _anyone_ that you are out on a valentines date, okay? Tell Miroku too. Say that it's your anniversary… or that you're celebrating something like that. A birthday, engagement, it doesn't matter. Just don't let anyone know it was for Valentines Day."

"…Kagome, what's going on…?"

"I'll tell you when you get back."

"No, you will tell me now."

Sango was serious. Kagome could only sympathize as she looked at Inuyasha. His eyes… they seemed very supportive… perhaps almost… protective? "Okay… Valentines Day has been black listed."

"WHAT?!"

"Yeah. Any celebration or recognition of it is now against the law. Hojo was been kicked out of the Hakodate Crew because of this."

"But he's the president of the organization! Who else is going to run it?"

"I bet you five hundred yen it's a man who holds the government's same beliefs."

"No need to bet with fact." Sango ran her fingers through her hair frantically. Miroku looked over at her quizzically, but she signaled that she'd tell him in a moment. "Thanks for calling me about it. What's happening now?"

"I'm going with Inuyasha to get rid of all of the Valentines Day stuff that we put up in Yukio-cha. Then… I don't know. I'll probably look for Reheko and go back the dorm."

"Good idea… Ack, Kagome, I'm at the tram stop for the restaurant. We'll talk about this right when I get back."

"Okay. Try to have a good time, Sango."

"Easier said than done." And she hung up. Kagome slowly put her phone back into her bag, looking up at Inuyasha who was glaring at something right behind her. Kagome turned around, yelping at the start of a guard and Koga standing right there.

"Take this one with you. Seems his partner's out." The guard said before shoving Koga into Kagome and walking off.

"Damn asshole…" Kagome picked himself off the ground before offering Kagome a hand off the ground. However, in that amount of time the half demon of the trio had already lifted her to her feet, a growl nicely audible from his throat. "Don't even think about it, mangy wolf."

"That's a ballsey remark from a half-turd."

"Which is more than you'll ever be, shit face."

"Please, you-" Koga was soundly cut off when Kagome snagged both their wrists and began dragging the bickering two towards the door.

"Oi, what're you- ?!"

"Keeping all of us from being killed." Kagome replied, her voice icy and cold. She didn't even look at them when she spoke. "Are you two that blind? A holiday has just been banned because it's western! It's obvious that the government doesn't like demons or anyone with demonic blood. I'm pretty sure that those guards will have no problem hauling you away on something frivolous, so don't give anyone a reason to!"

"Yes, _mother_." Inuyasha said impudently, giving a nasty glare towards the wolf demon. Koga returned the look just as easily as they passed into the main front room.

"You guys really don't get it…" Kagome said to herself. "Let's get going."

_Though…_ Kagome thought as she looked over her shoulder at the boys, begrudgingly gathering their materials for de-decoration. _I have to admit… I don't mind their company anymore… I guess that being near Inuyasha… kind of… makes me…_

_No, focus, Kagome. Don't let yourself slip up!_

- - -

7:03 PM

Yukia-Cha building

"How much crap is in this building?!" Inuyasha bellowed dismally as Kagome opened the doors to yet another decorated room. "I _know_ we didn't put all of this up."

Kagome simply heaved a sigh and walked into the small lounge room, broom in hand, streamers in hair. She too, had to admit that the amount of décor was a bit dubious.

"We didn't." Koga said as he entered the room. He was formally in charge of the vacuum cleaner, which was why there was sweat on his brow. Those things were heavy, after all. "The h. crew was only responsible for the first floor, not the second or third."

Kagome didn't say a thing, that was audible anyway, as she began thwacking at some purple hearts in the corner; she was mumbling to herself again.

"Then how'd all of this get up here, wolf, neh?"

"Somebody else put it up, idiot."

"Who would, ass hole?"

"How would I know, half-full."

"YOU-"

The both got a swift thunk in the head from flying bits of red and white. "Stop it, both of you!" Kagome called out.

"Actually, Miss Higurashi." A voice said from entrance to the room. "You may cease and desist. The demon and half may continue."

Kagome whirled around gripping her broom like a machete. A short, female guard stood at the door way. "You may return to your dorm now, Higurashi."

"B-but, um. I-I-… I'm not finish-"

"Did you not hear me?" The guard's voice was sharp and decisive now. She quickly entered the room and strode over to the horrified Kagome, snatched her broom, and chucked it at Inuyasha. "**I said you shall leave.**"

"But, what about the-?"

"Even ones with demonic blood know how to the work of a barbarian," She said. Slowly a disgusting smile etched its way across her face as both Inuyasha and Koga tried to restrain themselves, which was much easier said than done. "These two will continue until this deplorable décor is destroyed." Her smile vanished. "Now, for the last time, return to your dorm."

Kagome took in a long, shaky breath, seeming to calm her nerves. She gripped her broom and quietly made her way to the door.

"Leave the broom." The guard said in an icy whisper.

"But I should at least put it ba-"

"**I SAID LEAVE IT, YOU POMPOUS AIRHEAD!**"

Kagome dropped it immediately and bolted out of the room, her cries clearly audible from the echoes of the deserted hallway beyond, as if the only life left in them was hers. The only life left; screaming in pain.

"That wasn't-" Inuyasha began, looking at the female guard with a most vicious glare. However, he fell silent when his eyes met the loaded and locked machine gun pointed at his right temple.

"Cause any trouble for me half-shit," She looked at Koga. "Or full shit, and you'll find a nice little piece of steel in your cranium, so clean up." She said, kicking a box that Kagome had filled on the floor with torn down decorations down another step, throwing its contents about on the floor.

- - -

8:04 PM

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

Kagome had run back to her dorm room, though she knew that it was perhaps the most stupid thing to do right now. She shouldn't be running to places all alone. She knew that what would happen…

She wiped at her tears as she reached the top of the stairs to her floor. "I should stop being so reckless… It's not even April… April, the end… Apr-" She stopped mumbling to herself as she got to the hallway to all the dorms. At each door there was a package and a Japanese flag for each occupant of the living space.

Kagome stepped around the other packages until she got to her room, to her package. Her eyes didn't leave the box like item and folded cloth as he unlocked the door, slowly kicking the two parcels in with her feet. Once inside she closed and locked the door behind her.

The sun was now set.

She squatted down on the floor and picked up the flag precariously with her finger tips, as if touching them with her full hands would scald them. It was the same type of flag that she saw earlier over the entrance to the Hakodate club main building, complete with tassels and a small plastic baggie with goods to fasten it to a wall. Leering at the red and white stitching, she tossed it aside on the floor and looked at the box, and a letter that had been hidden before from the flag. Kagome snatched it up, retching her hand at the back of her neck as she tore it open with her other hand.

_Dear Higurashi Kagome,_

_The contents of this box are as follows: a new set of clothing to be worn whenever possible, a revised copy of several of your school textbooks, a new computer drive to help your computer, a small guide book on new acceptable behavior, and a book written by our Prime Minister_,_ entitled_ " The Japanese Restoration Renaissance" _which is to read in full, time permitting. The flags are to be either placed on the door of the dorm, the window of the dorm, or on an interior wall of the dorm only._

_Furthermore, within this box, there is a small pill to take. This is to act as a vaccine against foreign spread illness that aim to destroy both you and this nation. Taking it is advised. As well as a pill, there is also a small piece of paper that acts as a guide to a new installment to the social institution, set to come out this summer. Please read it and make sure you memorize it._

_Respectfully,_

_The Serene and Divine Government of Hokkaido District, Hakodate Prefecture, Hakodate City_

Kagome tore the paper in two, her face grim.

She opened up the box. On top there was a cotton kimono of medieval style, in black, a red crane printed on the back. She tossed it next to the flag.

Then she pulled out the computer piece. It was obviously a transmitter, meant to record and send data. She tossed on the kimono.

She gathered up the books. They were practically nothing more than a stack of many pages of propaganda. She could use them as evidence, if she were to ever get out of this alive. She chucked them at the foot of her bed, not bearing a blink when one of the covers snagged on the bed post and ripped a third of the way off.

She looked at and opened the guide book. Flipping through the pages, she stopped and stared at one page, reading one line repeatedly:

"_Female citizens are not to act in any careers except government, religious, and domestic. Female citizens are not show any more than their ankles of their legs-"_ She ripped the book in two and threw it on top of kimono.

She looked at the last full book inside. It was small. It was red. The Kanji were white. It read _"The Japanese Restoration Renaissance". _Beneath it, it read _" The way to restoring Japan to her rightful glory."_

A pink glow emanated from her stomach.

She ripped the little book in two, from binding to edge, throwing it down on the computer piece so hard in snapped in two.

Kagome looked inside the box one final time, picking up a piece of paper and a small vial. She popped open the vial and used her fingernail to cut open the small pill. Her thoughts were correct: She found a small transmitter and a bubble filled with nano-bot sacs. This she placed with the rest of the garbage.

Then she came to the sheet of paper. It was the only thing so far that made her jaw drop and widen her eyes.

_Come July, 2031, these new clothing codes will come into affect._

_Full humans are to where a white brooch. Demons, a black brooch. In-between, an ocher brooch._

_Shintos are to where a red brooch. Buddhists, an orange brooch. Christians, a yellow brooch. Muslims, dark green brooch. Jews, blue brooch. Hindus, purple brooch. Taos, gray brooch. Atheists, brown brooch._

_The two brooches are to be worn around the neck as shown in the picture below._

_All for Japan!_

"Fools…" She cursed, crumpled it up, and threw it on top of the remains of the red book.

Kagome picked up the 'to be killed' items and left her dorm room, pacing down the hall, and opening a chute to the trash compacter.

- - -

Friday, March 4, 4:49 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Kichinkyo building, Women's Dormitory

Inuyasha was waiting at their dorm as Sango and Kagome walked up. "Hey, what is-"

"Shh." He signaled with his hands that the three talk about it beyond closed doors. Now even he was beginning to make sure he wasn't saying something in improper earshot of others.

Kagome pulled out her keys, but she kept dropping them over and over again, each time cursing herself with a stutter. Sango pulled out her key and slid it into the lock. "Kagome, I thought you said that you were going to take that sleeping pill last night!" She hissed.

"…Sorry…" She muttered, quietly entering the room.

_Sleeping pill?_ Inuyasha hurried into their dorm, eyeing Kagome over. She looked fairly distressed, her skin a tinge pale and some of her clothing put on oddly. Usually she was always beaming with vibrancy and jubilee to such an extent that it sent his stomach fluttering. But now… something was off. Something was most certainly wrong. But from the look Sango gave him as Kagome bent over to turn on her computer, she was equally concerned.

The screen of Kagome's lap top flickered for a moment and then popped up, making the usual start up tone before relocating to her desktop. She clicked on the internet portal and then clicked a few more times before stopping to look at him. "What is it, Inuyasha?"

"You're going to talk to Rin, aren't you?" The whole little group had now learned that making reference to Rin meant getting info from the outside. It was a small secret that was only now known by the three in the room, Miroku, Koika, and Koga. They also assumed Ayame knew, but Aya had been staying away from all of them for quite some time now.

"Yeah, right now. Why?"

"I need to ask her something."

Kagome returned her attention to the computer as the proper programs started up. She had to set up her firewall correctly to keep some eyes out and Rin's in. Sango picked up the conversation in her place. "Like what?" She asked, taking a calculus book out of her bag.

"You'll see in a sec, won't you?"

Sango didn't even answer. She just let her eyes slip half closed to show her annoyance.

"There, I think that should do it." Kagome said as a small, black window popped up on the screen. "Now we just have to wait for her. You can sit down anywhere Inuyasha."

He nodded quickly, taking two steps back to sit on the T.V. This ended up with him jumping off with a start and growl, seeing as he had just been violated by the remote.

Sango and Kagome laughed lightly, gaining an equally angry glare from the ruffled half-demon. "Oh, shut up!"

"We didn't say anything!" Sango replied.

"Shut up also includes laughing at someone!"

"We're laughing with you, not at you." She said.

"We? What we? I'm not laughing. There is no laughing with someone who's not laughing."

The black screen shot out little bits of color, indicating Rin's arrival. The inhabitants of the room gathered around Kagome and her chair, her web cam turning on with a beep.

"Kagome?" Rin asked, her face then appearing on screen.

It seemed that the whole dorm breathed a sigh of relief. "Hi, Rin." Kagome said. "Before we get going with our usual stuff, Inuyasha has something to ask you."

"Okay, but I have something really big to tell you guys." she said as Inuyasha moved to get into the web camera space. "Seriously, it's going really shock you."

"Fine, tell them in a bit." Inuyasha said. "Rin, has there been anything about the Japanese royal family recently? Especially in the news?"

Rin's jaw dropped. "How did you know…?"

Kagome and Sango looked at each other in bewilderment.

"Well, yeah, that's the big news I was going to tell you guys. Today, on a small ferry, the Japanese royal family came into Korea! They released a statement saying that they feared that the government was soon going to try and get rid of them, and that they feared for the welfare of the country. Kagome, what the hell is going on over there?! The media can't get in anymore! It's like with old North Korea, except on an island!"

Kagome, a little too flabbergasted to speak at the moment (_The royal family…?! Even them…!?)_, easily let Inuyasha slide in and share her chair to spill. "Rin, you ready?"

"Ack, hold on!" She clicked a few times on her screen, put her fingers on the keypad, and then nodded. " Go ahead, Inuyasha."

"Uh… What's with the reporter act?"

"Oh, sorry! It's just… well, I'm majoring in Journalism and all now, and a lot of new companies keep e-mailing me trying to get info from Japan, since they found out that all the posts on my blog about the happenings inside Japan were from me. It's kind of cool, but also… it's scary…"

"Oh… okay. Well… You ready to type?"

"You bet."

"Okay… Basically, it's like you said, it is like North Korea now, plus Nazi Germany. The only thing left is for the Prime minister to name himself the position for life, and that's it. The OverDeclaration is just about all the way reinstated," He saw her grimace. " And any show of support for another government, culture, or whatever is against the law. They actually banned Valentines Day, Rin. It's bloody banned. They actually kicked Hojo out of the H.C. because of it, and right now he's waiting to stand trial for acts against the country."

The microphone on Rin's side didn't quite pick up what she said, but it sounded somewhere between a sigh of remorse and despair. "Yeah?"

"We technically have the freedom of speech, but it's dying fast. There are new laws for social behavior and everything. And on top of it all, in July, there is going to be a new marking system for humans, demons, half demons, Buddhists, Shintos, everything. It's like we jumped back one hundred years here."

Rin nodded with a sober face as she finished typing. "Anything big from outside the city?"

"Nope. We don't listen to the JIBC anymore: all it is now is a constant stream of propaganda." Kagome touched his arm. He looked down at her, his face blushed, as she looked up into his eyes calmly and sweetly. "May I speak with her now, Inuyasha?: Or do you have more?"

"N-no… I think that's about it…"

"Thanks…" Kagome said, rotating the chair to look at the computer better. "Hey Rin… again."

"Hey… this is fucked up."

"That's some language." Kagome retorted.

"It's properly used for the situation you guys are in… I swear, if the U.N. doesn't do something about it soon, I'll march across Asia all the way to Geneva and yell at them myself."

"Try not to get Avian Flu along the way." Kagome said absentmindedly. "So, is-"

"Oh, Sh-sh-sh!" Rin put her finger up to her mouth. "The news in starting back up on T.V.! Here, I'll move the camera and microphone." She said. Not long after the view on the screen rotated and moved closer in to Rin's T.V.. "Uh, Rin?"

"Yeah?"

"Would you mind switching the language bar to Japanese. I only know a little Korean."

"Ack! Sorry!" Rin switched the bar on the T.V., and immediately the hangul of the news station changed to hiragana and Kanji.

_American Civil War Update!_ It said.

A news woman cam on. "Good evening and welcome back to Seoul 62: All the News, All the World, All the Time. It is now time for our segment on the Civil wars in the former United States of America. For that, we go to Jo-song in Montreal. Jo-song?"

"Thank you, Kira." A man popped up with the lights of the cityscape Montreal behind him. There were also many people walking along a path behind him as well. "And as you can see, the amount of refugees just from the New England region alone is staggering. The estimate is that about 80,000 people have fled into Canada and Quebec so far, the overall amount coming into the union predicted to be close to 200,000."

There was a cut to scenes of people struggling into the city along with clips of the sectarian violence that had been growing with a voice over.

"Although the New England region has stayed fairly violence free for a long time, especially with the annexation of the State of Maine to Quebec, the fighting has finally reached this far north. Boston, once a safe have for refugees, has now fallen asunder to many different guerilla groups. Even the City of New York," They showed clips of the city. "Is practically a ghost town now, with the radioactive fallout of the attacks on Washington now beginning to take full affect. At the moment, the two main forces in this section of the region are Appalachia and The Union of New England. And although there have been attempts to have peace talks with both sides, neither is willing to cooperate. Both claim it is because of grudges against each other, but it is widely believed that in truth the leaders of the two areas are only after more power and land, and refuse to give up now."

It went back to Jo-song. "And although the things that have been happening in places like New York, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania is bad, it is almost nothing compared to the war in the Midwest."

It changed to more battles and more clips with a new voice over. "The fighting has exploded in the region now with the creation of the 'nation' The Divine Nation of God, occupying the Upper and middle plains region of the Midwest, which has declared a holy war against the Republic of Cahokia, formerly the union of Ozarkia-Egypt. Cahokia's capital, St. Louis, has now teamed up with the power of the city state of Chicago and the North Star republic to go against the D.N.G., which today sponsored a terrorist attack against the are known as 'The hill', and other areas that have old, Cahokia mounds buried beneath them. The president of the republic of Cahokia, Wolff Shaw, stated that although the attack might have dealt physical damage, it only strengthened their fervor emotionally and spiritually."

It went back to Jo-song. "And this is only the beginning of it, with massive fighting occurring in Texas, Aztlan, the Californian republic, and the State of Billings. Overall the estimated death toll, just from the civil wars, comes at around seven million."

It went back to Kira with a split screen with Jo-song. "This is just awful, Jo-song. Sickeningly awful that anything like that could happen."

Back to Jo-song. "Indeed it is, Kira. One person I've spoke to today asked me why the United Nations hadn't done anything to stop the violence, and another person behind her said that it was payback."

Kira shook her head. "Just awful. Keep us updated, Jo-"

"Hold on, Kira, hold on, I'm just getting in some breaking news…" He held his earpiece tentatively. Kagome and the others leaned in to their computer screen. "It appears… It appears that Wolff Shaw has created a pact with The Republic of the Ohio valley and Louisiana, formally merging all three nations into one. He is now stressing that the new nation be called…" Jo-song blinked for a moment, holding his mouth with his hand. "For it to be called 'The United People of America.'"

Kira also was slightly dumbfounded by the news, as she waited a few moments to let the news sink in before she actually carried on. "Well… I suppose even in hell there is hope."

"Well put, Kira. Back to you."

She nodded. "Yes, um… Thank you, Jo-song. " The camera zoomed in. "In other foreign news today, outside of Perth, Australia, the population of grasshoppers has exploded in a powerful show of-"

The window went blank. "Rin?!" Kagome called at the microphone, clicking feverishly at the reconnect button. "Rin?!"

A message popped up on the screen.

_It has been noted that this computer was contacting a foreign server. This is illegal. Please see your nearest police station and file a notice. In the mean-time, all internet access on this server is now blocked. Please refrain from braking laws._

- - -

Sunday, March 13,9:32 PM

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

Sango finished heaving herself up the stairs to her dorm level. Goodness, but she had a lot to carry up: All her Laundry, more food stuffs, and her homework. If she were feeling sadistic, she'd call Kagome to get her butt out here and help her, but Kagome was feeling even more awful than usual. Sango didn't dare try something like that.

As she walked down the hall, the lights flickered, and then blew out. The building was dark, and silent.

"A black out…" she said to herself. Suddenly she heard pounding and trashing coming down the hall. "Hello?!"

She heard Kagome screaming.

Sango bolted to her dorm room. "Kagome!!"

Things banged about inside, but it only sounded like one person was doing it. "Kagome!?! KAGOME!?!"

It went silent. Sango dropped the stuff and grabbed her key, stuffing it into the key hole and opening the door. She burst inside, but found Kagome sitting calmly on the floor, her back to her, and Kagome's desk chair in pieces. "Kagome…? What happened…?"

"Oh my god…" Was all Kagome said. "Oh my god… I can't believe it…"

"Kagome, what is it…?" Sango asked, slowly moving closer to her.

Kagome turned around ,the evidence of tears clearly present. "The ninth… the crackdown…Oh my god, Sango! Oh my god! It's almost April! Oh my god! THE NINTH! OH MY GOD!!!" Kagome threw her arms around her friend and began to sob violently into her coat.

- - - -

Sorry if some of the editing is a little icky. I tried to catch it all, but my brain is slightly fried from finals. I'll try better next time.


	20. Arrival

-A/N - a slightly shorter chapter than usual, but oh so important.

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 20

Arrival

* * *

Friday, March 31, 4:35 PM 

Hakodate, Japan

Hakodate University, Cafeteria

"April… What's April got to do with anything?" Miroku asked, looking back across the small table at Sango's' worried face.

"I wish I knew…" She said with disdain, her head drooping slightly.

"Maybe it's someone's name?" Koika said after swallowing her mouthful of miso soup. "I've heard the name is used in English sometimes."

Sango's face twisted. Something told her… the look in Kagome's face, more than likely… that April was more than a name, or a month. It meant something else that was a lot bigger. More than likely, it in truth had nothing at all to do with the month of April. "It's possible, but…"

"Are we going to sit here the whole time and talk about 'April'?" Inuyasha asked furiously. His arms were firmly pressed against his chest, hidden beneath a light coat (Hakodate was finally warming up, and quickly. Most of the ice tunnels around the city had already melted so much they had to be cleared away), a stern face of frustration contorting his brow. "I thought we got together to figure out how to get Kagome to tell us what's wrong already?!"

"Duh, half-shit," Koga began, but Inuyasha cut in. "Better than full." he grumbled.

Miroku snickered for a moment before he got a swift kick in the shin from a certain female across the table. "Ow…"

"Yes, we're here to try and figure out a way to get Kagome to tell us what's wrong," Sango stated, her face looking like she was getting tired of repeating something to a small child. "But she keeps on talking - or mumbling, anyway - something about April, so that's our best clue right now."

"Not really." He retorted.

Sango sighed for self-control.

The others looked at her with apprehension, as if waiting for something to go boom. "_Okay_… what is our best clue, then, Inuyasha?"

"The fact that she gets more paranoid and terrified when the government gets more authoritarian." He pointed his fingers together, as if showing an invisible chain. "That's a direct link."

Sango let all of the air out of her lungs in a massive show of disgruntlement. _Of course that's the biggest connection… BUT WE'RE TALKING ABOUT CLUES, YOU IDIOT! CLUES! NOT THINGS THAT ARE AS CLEAR AS DAY!_

"For once, you actually thought, Inuyasha. That _is_ the biggest thing." Koga said is slight disdain.

"Yeah, I hadn't thought of that." Koika added in. Miroku nodded in response.

Sango just slapped her forehead. _Idiots surround me. Complete and utter idiots._ _I swear, even if they were drunk, they couldn't be more stupid._ And then she had a revelation. "Hold on… Oh hold on, I think I got an idea!"

"Unless it's an answer to all of thi-" Sango cut Inuyasha off with a swift shut up gesture.

"Listen, we all know that we don't have enough information to figure this out… or rather, **I'm** pretty sure we don't have enough information to figure this out. So how about this; this weekend, we have a secret party like thing for Kagome. Maybe we can try to get some old foreign movies or something before their all confiscated. And, you know… Maybe she'll calm down enough to let us in the loop?"

"I think she'd figure it out." Koika said. "It is a good idea, but I don't think that she is that dense. Kagome probably know we're up to something right now."

"Well, then maybe we can at least calm her down enough so that she can cope with whatever it is that she has to cope with." Sango shot back icily.

All of them sat there for a bit, listening to light traffic of people speaking and eating in the cafeteria.

"Sorry…" Sango quietly admitted. "I'm just a little… anxious."

"We are too…" Koga said in an equally low tone.

Silence surrounded them like a fog.

Miroku shifted in his seat, making a small squeaking sound that snagged all of their gazes. "Sorry…"

"If all of us are so anxious about it…" Inuyasha began, feeding off the break of quiet Miroku had given. "Then why wait for the weekend? How about tonight we do this?"

"You think we'd be able to get enough done in time?" Sango asked.

"What time is it…?" Inuyasha looked at his watch, grimacing at the digital numbers. "Ugh… We'll get it done if we run."

* * *

9:04 PM

Kichinkyo building, Women's dormitory

"You sure you're okay…?"

Kagome glanced at Reheko's concerned face as they reached the seventh floor. She'd seen a lot of that lately, the concerned faces. But no matter how much she wanted to… "Y-yes, I'm doing okay."

…She didn't dare tell them the truth. She couldn't get them hurt from this.

"Kagome…" Reheko scanned the next floor's main room to double check no one was listening. "Are you positive? Because if it's because what's been _happening_, we all are terrified. We-"

"Although that is a part of it, it's only the tip of an iceberg. But I'll deal with it: I can get my hands on a flamethrower and kill it." Kagome said thankfully, rubbing her neckline as they reached their floor.

Her friend didn't seem satisfied, but nodded never the less. "Okay…Knock if your going out again."

"I will." Reheko went down her hallway, and Kagome went down hers. It was March thirty-first now. It was getting close to midnight. She never thought it would be like this. That she would be so terrified of something she already knew was going to happen, since it had happened before. It was like a-

The room to her dorm burst open, the sounds of laughing and music exploding out.

Kagome was slightly flabbergasted, watching a rather loopy looking Miroku shaking his hips and grooving out of the room and into the hall. As he turned to look at her, he went bug eyed. "GUYS! KAGOME'S HERE! C'MON IN KAGOME!"

_Do I really have a choice? _"Miroku, what is going **_ON_**!?" She was effectively chucked into her dorm room and landed with a thud. It was better than landing with a splash; there was a pitcher of some red, sugary/alcoholic smelling beverage about a hair's width away from her nose.

"K'GOME!" was the overall sound the rest in the room called upon her turning over to see what was happening. All of them; Inuyasha, Koika, Sango, Miroku, and Koga… they didn't seem drunk, but were definitely loose. It looked like they certainly had their fair share of whatever she almost fell on.

"Hi…" She said warily. "Um… might I ask w-what's going on?"

Koika helped her up off the floor. "SURE! WE'RE JUST HAVING A PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARTY!!!"

"I noticed." Kagome dusted herself off a bit before taking it all in. Thankfully there weren't any streamers or anything flying all over the place, but Sango's computer was playing music all the way cranked up, the T.V. screen looked like it was waiting for someone to press play for it to start a movie, and there were a few bags of different food stuffs. The main attraction though, food wise, was a large thermos on which said "Ramen" in huge, black text. Kagome decided she didn't need to guess what was in there. "But what is the party for?"

Miroku wandered over this time for an answer. "What isn't it for! It's nice to calm down and let loose every now and then!"

_That's true… _She thought, taking off her jacket and setting her purse on her desk. _But… not now…_

Sango squeezed in between Miroku and Koika (who decided to get back to talking loudly and listening to the music) to get to her friend. "Hey! We've got a really good movie just waiting to watch. You know, one of the old Bollywood ones from India, back from its early times. I think it's one that you said you liked once…"

"Okay…"

"But we don't have to watch it if you don't want to!" Sango finished quickly. "We could all just sit around and talk if you wanted or something."

"No, no, a movie is fine… "_It's better than talking, anyway._ "I'm still a little shocked, though. I kind of thought I was coming back to a quiet little dorm so I could sleep or something." Kagome looked at her friend's pained face. "But this is fine! Really, it is. I'm just… a little shocked."

"You said that already."

"Yes, I know that." Kagome quietly sighed, looking up towards the ceiling. "Geez, it's bright in here."

"Oh, right. Inuyasha helped put in a new light bulb since we couldn't reach the ceiling. It's just a little odd feeling since it's been out since… December, I think, right?"

_I should know; it broke when I was in here._ "Yeah, I think that's right."

"Yeah… I'd say put your stuff down, but you just did that. In any case, just join the party; or sit down and watch a movie."

"I'll go with the sitting one, please." Kagome said, slowly pacing around the other jumping bodies in the room and sitting down on her bed. "What's that you're drinking?"

Sango looked down at the cup in her hand, as if only just realizing she was holding it. "Oh, nothing big. Just some cherry juice with a little bit of sake. Not enough to get anyone drunk or even close, but enough to get people loosened up. I learned how to make from dealing with my dad."

In other words, have some before I force it on you.

Kagome reached for the stack of cups on the floor and snagged one, getting off the bed to make it to the pitcher. She then proceeded to pour herself a glass. "Smells kinda sugary."

"I know, but it's just the fruit sugar. Just the smell." Sango said, taking a sip from her cup. "I wonder where I put that jug of tea…?"

Kagome shrugged, putting the cap back on the pitcher. "Beats me. You probably put it in one of the cupboards."

"True. I'll go look for it as a non-alcoholic option."

Koika wandered her way over to Koga as a certain half-demon did the same towards the new arrival. "So, how are you doing? In term of dealing with Inuyasha and Kagome… you know…"

The demon sighed with a slightly angry tone. "Fine."

"Liar." She said, heading over toward the food.

Koga didn't really care how that girl felt or anything like that. He wished she'd stop bringing it up already. It was enough of a battery to see Inuyasha talking with Kagome, making her smile… That was enough torture. He didn't need someone else coming at him and shoving it in his face.

"Sango, what are you doing?" Miroku asked Sango, moving with the music, but being shoved out of the way of the pantry at the same time.

"What's it look like? I'm trying to get stuff."

"Like…?"

Sango stood up and looked at him… and the cup he was holding. "How many of those have you had now?"

"I dunno, maybe… thirteen. So what're you **get**ting?"

Sango let her eyes slip halfway closed. "Something non-alcoholic, and maybe a vomit pill so you don't go drunk on me."

He looked slightly hurt. "But don't you want me on you?"

She shook her head. "You high pervert."

"Not high, drinking."

"That's drunk. Where are those vomit pills? Ah, there they are."

Sango took his cup from his hand (much to his disapproval) and dropped the pill in it. Over a timescale of about five seconds in fizzed and bubbled until it fully dissolved. "There, drink up, big guy."

"Oh yeah, I'm big-"

"Let me rephrase that-" Sango forced the drink up to his lips. "Drink up, lecher."

Miroku then spent a good fifteen minutes in the restroom.

* * *

11:57 PM

"Oi, we're just about out of food," Koga said disdainfully. "And liquids."

Sango turned to look at her roommate. "Hey Kagome, what kind of stuff do you want to eat? We can go get-"

"What about what you guys want?"

"We already got that earlier." Inuyasha said from his spot on the floor. "That's what we've been eating."

"Yeah, you should get stuff you want." Koika added in.

"Well, okay. But I'll just go out and get it. It'll be easier than me telling you what to get." Kagome said, rolling herself off her bed and onto the floor. Slowly she stood up, stretching her legs and back a bit before walking over to her coat and purse.

"You sure?" Sango and the others looked at her. "It really wouldn't be that big of a bother-"

"Yes, I'm sure." She slipped on her tennis shoes, looping the knots quick and loose. "See ya in a bit." She said, walking out the door and closing it behind her.

The room grew unnaturally quiet. With the reason for the party gone and the movie paused, everything was just drained away. Slowly minutes ticked by as nothing happened, and no one said a thing. That is until Koika spoke up. "You think we should surprise Kagome when she gets back?"

"We did that once already. What do you think would surprise her a second time knowing we're here?" Inuyasha asked. Neither did he want or care about a surprise; he was more concerned about the target of such. Even though she seemed to be rather happy when she was there, something still wasn't right.

"I know," Sango stated, snickering to herself. "How about all the guys take off their shirts.

Koika laughed as the males gave a resounding unison of "NO."

"What about Inuyasha then?" She asked.

"Me?!" He pointed a finger at himself. Miroku chuckled lightly, while Koga's face was utterly perplexed. "Why me?"

"Probably because that's the one she'd mind the least." Sango said idly, slurping at the remnants of her tea. "Great, I'm drinking leaf bits now."

"And _why_," Inuyasha was a wee bit off kilter, his blushing face the physical evidence. "Would _th-that _be?"

This time Miroku responded, once finished with slapping his forehead. "You have gained a new level of denseness, Inuyasha. Did you think about the possibility that it's not that she'd mind seeing you… like _that_, but that she wouldn't mind seeing you?"

"She has two eyes. She can see me fine."

"You are dense…" Koga muttered under his breath. He was pretty sure he knew where this was leading. And that path was one that was making his insides turn a bit.

"No, not like that." Sango repeated her boyfriend's action by clasping her forehead. "We mean **_see. _** You know…"

The half demon had a weak eureka moment.

He was then quiet and still for a few seconds. In a rare display of self-control and humility, he said, very simply, one word, as if it were stating an honest fact. "Ah."

Miroku looked at Sango with a smile. "I think he's got it."

Koika looked at Koga with a grimace. She didn't have to say anything to let him know her sympathy.

The demon nodded.

"So…" Inuyasha cleared his throat, zipping down the top of his jacket, which seemed to be strangling him. "…how… how long…"

"How long has she felt like that?" Sango asked him.

The half-demon nodded.

"Well… I think it 'budded' somewhere in November, and then actually began in January. It's in a fairly nice stage right now; not a sapling, but not full-grown. Like it's an adolescent."

_A serious crush…_ He thought.

His mind began racing.

What if this was fake?

What if they had misinterpreted?

What if it died out?

What if it didn't work out?

What if she fell for someone else?

What if she dumped him?

What if she became another Kikyo? They looked close enough alike. Maybe fate had played a sick trick on him? Making all women he'd ever love look alike so he could never forget the past?

"Inuyasha? Are you breathing?" Miroku asked.

He rubbed his face. "Not well."

"Why? I'd think you'd be jumping up and down like a little girl." his roommate said.

"Well, I'm not what you think, am I?" Inuyasha darted back. "At last check, **I** controlled who I was, not **your **thoughts."

"I think those days are numbered." Sango said simply, swishing her tea around in the cup. "At least in terms of you deciding everything about yourself. It's already started, hasn't it? You didn't choose to feel anything for Kagome; especially at the beginning. It just happened."

"And who's to say I feel anything for Kagome?"

"Uh, us." Miroku said sarcastically. "What, are you saying that you don't feel anything for Kagome?"

Inuyasha didn't like where this was headed. "No! But-"

"So you do feel something for her?" Sango asked.

"Would you sto-"

"Inuyasha, we're not dumb or blind, tell us the truth." Miroku said.

"I haven't said anything! Or finished it, anyway! You keep butting in!"

Sango leaned back calmly. "Okay then, go ahead. Your standing, we're listening. Give us your speech."

Inuyasha looked down. Indeed, somewhere back there he stood up and was clenching his fists. But now it felt like his fist had jumped down his larynx. "…Uh-…I…"

Sango canted her head. "We're all ears."

"Oh, to hell with all of you!" He shouted, jumping over a bag of some eaten foodstuff, heading to the door. He just had to get out of there. He'd tell Kagome in his own time; he wasn't entirely sure what he would tell her though. That he thought she was wonderful? That he liked being with her? That he had a crush on her? Or was it love? Which one would he end up saying? He didn't know. He just didn't know. He'd have to wait for the right moment. When the time came, then he'd choose. Or maybe the words would simply form without his forcing.

He opened the door. "I'm going out-"

A girl grasped hold of him. He at first mistook her for a skeleton, because of how thin and pale she was, but she was indeed a living girl, naked except for what looked like a faded, orange pillowcase she was wearing. Inuyasha backed up against the door, having it slam against the wall, the bang mixing with the gasps and shocks of the others in the room. "Wha-"

"…K," Her voice was airy and almost gone. Weak and decrepit. She swallowed hard, making a sickening display of the organs and muscles that barely existed in her neck. "… Ka… gome… here?…"

She didn't even wait for the answer. Her legs buckled and she tumbled to the floor. Koika shrieked as both Miroku and Sango shot up and over to the girl. Inuyasha stood at his spot for a moment longer, his eyes wide and staring forward. He only dared look at her when Miroku began to talk. "Look, she has a name on here."

Sango gasped. "Oh Kami, it's Yuka."

* * *

And so it begins.

(Note: Please se my profile page immediatly for update stuff)


	21. Blood

-1A/N - I have been waiting to write this chapter for two years. Boy am I glad I finally am able to. My heart is racing now, I've known what was going to happen all along!

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 21

Blood

* * *

Saturday, April 1, 12: 12

Hakodate, Japan

Kichinkyo building, Women's dormitory

Yuka weakly sighed, taking the cup of tea down from her lips and swallowing the last sip of soup. "…Th…thanks…"

"Yuka, what happened to you?!" Sango now asked. She had been patient while the girl was getting in some nutrients, but now she had to know something. She knew Yuka was involved: look at her!

The thin girl slowly took in a ragged breath, gently propping herself up against the wall, her body still fully supported by Kagome's bed. It seemed that she knew this was coming, and the answer was not easy. "…Months ago, my boyfriend and I… we were walking. On the beach… Police mobbed us. They blindfolded and gagged us. Then we turned up at a concentration camp. It's outside a little town in northern Hokkaido."

Sango's jaw went slack. She couldn't see anyone else's reaction (since she was sitting and staring right at Yuka), but she probably didn't need to. _Concentration camp…_ "Who was the concentration camp for?" She brought herself to ask.

Yuka nodded with a light smile, as if only waiting for permission to speak about it. "Anyone,"

"Anyone?" Inuyasha asked.

"… that the government hates… demons, half demons, foreigners, civil disobeyers… political enemies, political activists, Christians, Buddhists, Muslims, Jews… I met many of those… That's why my boyfriend was taken…"

"That's right…" Sango said to herself. "Kagome said he's from Hawai'i."

Yuka's smile faded. "Was. He's dead now."

Koika took a hard gulp into her throat, looking at Sango who was also looking slightly pale. "Um…"

"I have… other things to tell you… many things… bigger than this."

She now had everyone's attention.

"I wasn't taken… for being political."

Sango frowned. "But, why were-"

"I was taken… because they thought I was the first in line… but I was the second."

"I beg your pardon?" Koga asked.

"They thought that Sunset Corp… put the Shikon no Tama in me, but Kagome had it put it. I was the next closest match… I think her father did that, write me in as the holder… on purpose, to protect Kagome."

"Her father?" one of them asked. It didn't really matter who at this point.

"Vice president of product engineering at Sunset Corp… or was when he was alive… and when the company was as well." She took another long sip of tea. "Before you ask anything else, I have to say somethings. Sunset corp.… they set up a program to find children who matched… well with their new product. They had to match with genes of spiritual force, had a certain amount of estrogen production, and other stuff… I didn't find out a whole lot, but enough… I was sworn to secrecy in those early days of testing… I wish I broke that earlier."

"At least your breaking it now," Sango began. "But what does the Shikon no Tama do?"

Yuka sighed. "I only have a vague clue… something about talking with the dead or spirits or… stuff like that."

"How…" Inuyasha was slightly flabbergasted, as were many of the others. "How can you… _make_ something like that?"

"Not sure." Yuka offered simply. "But it also has to grow in the right person… for a long time. They did… many tests on us and a few other kids trying to see who was best… At first, they thought I would be the top, but… ironically, Kagome, the child of the head of the project… she was the best fit. "She took another sip of liquid. "She was the best match, I was the second best. After me was a little demon boy called… Jyakotsu, I think, then a young Irish girl who went back to Galway after… the tests."

Jyakotsu. The name seemed to resonate through the entire room as if a lead anvil were pounding on all of their heads. They knew about his murder. And now they knew a very big clue about why it happened. "Yuka…" Sango whispered. "Jyakotsu is dead. He was student here. He was gunned down months ago."

Yuka nodded, not surprised. "If they went after me, then they went after him. And Kagome."

Inuyasha snapped out of his stupor of the murder mystery. "Kagome? What do you-"

"Wait… your Inuyasha, the… oh, I heard about you." She said, almost like an old woman talking to a grandchild's friend. "I heard a lot about you from Kagome."

He blushed, but pushed through it. "No, forget that! Kagome! What is going on with her!?"

"Talking to the dead… could give a lot of religious power to someone… enough for religious, political, or ethical domination of a lot of people." she said. " Not a lot of people went after her after tha-" She stopped, her eyes slightly hazy and off kilter. She turned to Sango. "Where does Kagome keep her movies?"

"Huh?"

"Her movies? I know she'd bring it along."

Sango pointed next to the bed, where a night stand table would be if there was one. She helped Yuka down and off the bed to the stack of discs as she began to fervently search through it. " I know it… I know she'd bring it."

"Bring what?" Koga asked.

"The _that_." She said simply. All of the movies in the stack were now thrown about the confines of the area, with Yuka slightly puzzled. Her eyes glanced around until she spotted a tin under the bed, and with a little help, she pulled it out. "Her first funeral gift…" She muttered. She tugged at a bit (since her muscles were almost nonexistent) and then yanked open the top, finding inside a few small things, including the Tessaiga, as well as a disc labeled "Kagome's first Christmas." Yuka pushed the eject button on the movie player and pushed the new disc in the slot. "this should show you how much people want the Shikon."

Inuyasha and the others moved around the T.V. screen as Sango helped Yuka back onto the bed, still holding the tin.

For a while the screen was black. But without warning, it clicked on, with a young man in a sweater holding a small baby in his arms, smiling. He was sitting on a small mat in front of a glass top coffee table, with white carpet underneath. Behind him there were numerous Christmas items all hanging about. "Hon, is it on?" He asked.

The screen nodded up and down. "Yeah, I think it is. I have a blinking red light in my right eye. That means it's recording, right?" a female voice said from behind the camera.

"Yep. Anyway, hi there, uh, camera. This is Higurashi Ichigo and little Kagome here," He nuzzled the babe with his chin. "In Paris for Kagome's first Christmas… sort of."

The screen bobbed up and down slightly, in que with a chuckle. "Sure, because Christmas is in April this year."

"Hey, Steppy asked us to try out this stuff. And since most of it is Christmas themed… well, we can pretend, can't we?"

"It would be easier if it were cold outside and people stopped looking at us weird when they see Christmas lights in our hotel window."

Ichigo rolled his eyes an sighed. " Oh fine. You certainly weren't talking like that last night. You gave me my Christmas gift-"

"Do you really think that's something that can be said on camera?"

"How's the eye camera doing, by the way? No funky feelings in your temple."

"Non. Now answer the question, Santa."

"Well… I suppose it isn't."

"Right… " The woman said with a slight chuckle in her voice. "And that would be because…"

"…This video to see how all of the new products are working with visual evidence, not personal happenings."

"Good boy…" the woman was silent for a moment. "Um… you did use a condom last night, right?"

Miroku sniggered.

"Wah- Of COURSE I did!"

"That's what you said when we were on our honeymoon, and now Kagome is proof that you were lying."

"No, I did not lie. The condom just couldn't hold all of it, that's all."

Koika groaned. "Dirty parents… yuck."

"Sure, keep telling yourself that."

"OKAY, to nonchalantly change the subject," Ichigo stood up with a nervous smile. His wife behind the camera followed suit. "Let's get to reporting on the different stuff we're trying out! First off, the Shikon no Tama is still dormant, but that's no surprise. We shouldn't be worrying about that until she is twenty one and I'm in a mid-life crisis."

"I had better have one of these eye-cameras then. Then I can document ever last time that you did something pathetic." Her mother said.

Ichigo's face dropped. "Not funny." he kept his mouth open to speak, but a blast in the distance appeared to startle both him and his wife. The baby Kagome opened her eyes for the first time, showing a proud resemblance to her father. "What was that?" He asked.

"I don't know. It sounded like it came out from LaDefense area." the woman said.

"Are you sure?" Kagome's father asked, getting up to go towards the balcony. "I thought it was closer to Seine."

The camera got up and began following Ichigo to the veranda. "I'm positive!" they got outside. "Oh kami… Look, see in the La Defense area, that skyscraper-"

"I see it." He said with a slight groan. His arms went up around his chest to the baby he held. "You think that was bomb?"

"Probably. Either that or… maybe an airplane?"

Ichigo looked at the camera with a quizitive look on his face. "What, you mean like a French version of 9-11? Well-"

"OH KAMI, ICHIGO LOOK! ON THE SEINE! Oh, how do you zoom in on this thing!?" The screen turned red, and then yellow, then fuchsia as Kagome's father looked out over the railings.

"HOLY CRAP! ALL OF THAT, THAT ENTIRE NEIGHBORHOOD!… OH KAMI! HONEY, ZOOM IN ON IT-"

"I JUST ASKED YOU HOW TO DO THAT!"

"Move the second slider on the big round thing! Oh kami! Oh kami- that's a nursery! THOSE CHILDREN ARE ON FIRE! OH KAMI!"

The camera zoomed it. Koika gave a yelp as they watched small children running in a frenzy their clothes on fire, their faded screams barely reaching the camera. "Oh kami, oh kami, oh kami…" Kagome's mother stopped when there was a loud banging on the door. Ichigo quickly took the baby harness off of him and onto his wife before he went to the door.

"Oh my… oh kami, oh Buddha…" Her mother said again and again as new fire balls and smoke plums exploded over the city of Paris.

Inuyasha looked at the date on the bottom of the camera. It read April 4, 2012.

Ichigo got back onto the veranda. "Oh Buddha, what- CRAP! THAT WAS FREAKING CLOSE!"

"Who was at the door…?" Kagome's mother asked.

"A letter. Oh kami… I think I better call a taxi to get us out of the city." He said, again leaving the porch.

The camera zoomed in on a different part of the city. "Oh Buddha… Oh kami… Wait, is that…" The camera looked up to the sign on the top of a university building. Then she looked down at the happenings. The students, all attending the University of Paris for Demons, were screaming and running away from men jumping out of trucks, armed with machine guns and grenades. Each one wore no shirt, only a bullet proof vest, where red crosses were painted on both sides. "Oh no, oh kami, Ichigo! ICHIGO, I THINK IT'S A MASSACRE! PEOPLE ARE GOING AFTER DEMON PLACES! ICHIGO!"

The camera turned to look inside. He was grabbing his wallet and the camera woman's purse. "I called the front office. Their sending a taxi now. Suzuko, we have to go now!"

"Oh kami…" The camera ran inside. Kagome was beginning to cry. "Oh kami." She grabbed her purse, and then followed her husband out the door. They ran down the hallway, hearing a loud crash and scream on the floor beneath them. They ran past the stairs and went to the elevator. "Safer…" Ichigo muttered breathlessly.

The two got inside and went down, a gentle ping and music playing as Kagome wailed, her mother cooed, and the sounds of slaughter and attack strengthening as they went past the fourth floor. The doors opened to the lobby, and the main officer there looked out over the top of his desk, looking slightly relived. "Monsieur Higurashi! Ze car es outside!"

"Merci!" Ichigo called back as both he and his family bolted out the doors. Mrs. Higurashi got into the taxi with her child first, the camera looking over to see Ichigo getting in. "BRETON!" he shouted at the driver, who looked quite amazed. "Breton?" He asked.

"OUI! ALLEZ-VOUS EN! HATE!" Ichigo yelled at him. The driver gave a small yelp as an explosion rang behind them, firmly shifting gears and roaring down the road.

"Breton?" Mrs. Higurashi asked.

"It's a long way, but it should be the safest place, I suppose. We could get to England fairly easily from there."

"Why not go to Calais, if we're trying to get to Briton?"

"Because I don't think it's the best spot." He said firmly.

"But-"

"Please, Suzuko, We'll just go to Breton."

The camera nodded.

As the car drove, it went by several burning buildings, and a good many corpses. They also went through a few hunting parties of the crossed people, for whom the driver had no problem running into a few of them as he sped down the way. Kagome was really beginning to bawl now, so her mother was attending to her. But in the side view, one could see Mr. Higurashi reading his letter, and his grip on it getting greater and greater, almost ripping. "No… no, that fucking bastard…"

"Huh?"

They were on the road in front of the Eiffel Tower now.

"It's Steppy! HE KNEW ABOUT THIS! HE'S TRYING TO KILL US!"

"What?!"

"I knew it! I knew I shouldn't have done the Shikon no Tama project with him! I BLOODY FUCING KNEW IT!"

A rocket struck the top of the tower. Suzuko screamed as the top of the Eiffel tower blew clean off, twirling as it soared through the air striking the road right before them. The wave of impact struck the taxi, making it fly off the road and flip several times, landing with a crunch and pop as the Driver was crushed by a chunk of steel. "OH KAMI!!!!" Suzuko screamed. She was wailing almost as much as her daughter. Ichigo, apparently rather bloody from broken glass, kicked at his door until it opened. He took hold of his terrified wife and child and began to drag them outside. "Suzuko!" He yelled at the camera, once on firm ground. "SUZUKO!" The camera shook about as he shook her. "C'MON! SUZUKO! LISTEN!"

"Oh kami, oh Buddha,"

"Are you hurt?!"

"Oh… kami. I'm a little cut up."

"Can you walk?"

She took a step. "Yeah,"

" Okay. Kagome's good." He looked over her shoulder. His eyes widened. "Oh fuck. Run. Run, Suzuko! RUN! RUN DAMMIT!"

They both ran around what was left of the top of the iron tower, the fiery metal dropping bits of itself at the heat melted parts of it. The camera bobbed up and down with Mrs. Higurashi's pants.

There were bodies, screams, explosions, fire, bullet shells, bombs, all of it everywhere that one could hear and see.

"**_SUZUKO!_**" Her husband screamed behind her. The camera turned around.

He was standing. A helicopter mounted with machine guns was getting closer to him. "**_EKUSUDOSA!_**"

The helicopter fired.

Everyone in the room but Yuka jumped back as they heard Suzuko's scream, watching her husband body being torn apart by bullets. Koika jumped up and ran to the trash can, her stomach heaving. Miroku had his hand over his mouth. Koga looked like he was crunching his teeth into bits, grinding them to keep his mouth shut. Sango was breathing hard, tears welling up in her eyes.

Inuyasha was a mix of these, but the word Ichigo said struck him. It was the word they hadn't been able to figure out in the Tessaiga.

Yuka pulled the cord on the T.V. "The rest of it… it's her mother getting out and going to Breton…"

Inuyasha stood up and went of to Yuka. He snatched the tin out of her hands, rummaged for a moment before pulling out the small red bead. "What is it…?" She asked.

"Ekusudosa." He said. He jumped over to Kagome's computer, and pressed the power button. Nothing happened. He checked the plug, and everything was indeed connected. "Sango, her computer-"

"Oh, here." She got up and hurried over to her roommate's computer. She bumped Inuyasha out of the way and put her finger on the power button, pressing it gently. It turned on.

Inuyasha was now confused. "How-?"

"She had a fingerprint scanner made by a friend and put on. She doesn't want people on here unless… well, I think you get it." She said. Sango took the data bead and put it in its slot as the desktop came up. A window popped open, showing three folders: A text file, a picture file, and a document file. Sango highlighted all three and opened them. The pictures turned up first, then the documents, and finally the text files. There was a small logo of Sunset Corp and description of it beneath it in the first text document. "I think we know all we need to about that." She said, closing it.

The next file had all of the writings that Sesshomaru and Inuyasha hadn't been able to understand. Miroku and the others came over to the computer, except Yuka, who was resting on the bed still.

"Still no idea what that is…" Inuyasha said. Sango looked at him for a moment in wonder, but closed the file.

The final text file opened up.

Sango, the closest to the screen, read it . "Ekusudosa. It says it's a mis-interpretation?"

"Go to the first document file." Inuyasha commanded.

Sango clicked on it. She began to read what it said to herself.

_1. Seattle, United States of America. A red tide occurred from the pollution dropped into the bay during its earthquake. It turned the water blood red._

_2. Inuyasha - frogs._

Sango looked at the half demon, the only other person who had enough room to actually read the document. He swallowed hard. "When I was younger, my father took me and my brother to Egypt on a business trip. A sand storm had come before, making the Nile muddy. Frogs came out of everywhere, trying to get air. That's why I'm freaked of them; my brother sicked them on me."

She nodded.

_3. Amazon, Brazil. Mites become infested with rabies. Affects local population_

_4.Argentina and Brazil. The mites bite many livestock, making most attack humans, just like in the writings of Exodus._

Sango grinded her teeth, but kept reading.

_5. Argentina and Brazil. Animals that attacked humans die after three days of infection. Loss of livestock makes widespread famine._

_6. Moscow, Russia. The bird flu mutates, making it a virus that also makes boils on the skin that turn blood red and then pop, killing the person by lack of breath and lack of blood._

_7. Washington D.C., Former U.S.A. Cuba nukes it. Equivalent to the fiery hail._

_8. Perth, Australia. Grasshopper population explodes. When grasshoppers are forced to breed in high numbers in small locals, they are then called locusts._

_9. Hokkaido, Japan. Black out in Hokkaido. Lasts for three days. The great Darkness._

_10. Death of the first born._

"Oh kami, oh kami, oh Buddha, Miroku, get my coat! MIROKU GET MY COAT!"

"Why? What is it?" He asked as Inuyasha bolted out the door,

"LOOK! LOOK AT THIS! EKUSUDOSA WAS PUT IN KATAKANA AND ROMAJI INSTEAD OF TRANSLATED! EKUSUDOSA MEANS EXODUS! THEY'RE GOING TO KILL HER!"

"What?!"

"KAGOME HAS AYOUNGER BROTHER! SHE'S THE FIRST BORN! SOMEONE'S GOING TO FUCKING KILL HER!" Sango screamed. Without another word, she bolted out the door. Koga followed. Koika wiped her mouth and sprinted out.

Miroku stood there for a moment.

"What are you doing here?!" Yuka asked as strongly as she could. "Go with them!"

"No, wait. I have to see those pictures." He said looking the computer

--

Inuyasha bolted out the front door. He put his head to the ground, smelling for her scent.

He took off in a sprint down one path, the way to the grocer building. He heard the others crash through the glass windows of the doors behind him, but he didn't stop.

_Kagome…_

He had to find her. He had to protect. He wouldn't let anyone lay a finger on her.

Down that way? Yes, her scent was strongest there.

Another turn. A long path.

The demon blood in him burned as he ran the path in second.

Another turn. Small corridor.

Turn around. Other way. Her scent is stronger.

He ran forward. He was getting closer to the grocer now.

He took another turn.

The grocer building stood there.

He ran forward a bit.

He found Kagome's shoes. The ones she put on limply.

_She ran._

He ran around another corner.

There was a bag of trampled food stuffs spread across the path.

He heard his friends shouting Kagome's name behind him.

He ran forwards. Another turn.

Down an ice tunnel. It still stood.

He knew he was getting closer to her.

He smelled burnt Skyukuchi tire.

He sprinted forward.

Left turn here, almost there.

He could feel her.

She was there. She was.

He made the corner.

On the ground there was a pool of blood and hair, and a bit of her coat.

Inuyasha fell down on his knees. He felt like roaring in anger. He should have gone with her to get the stuff. _Damn IT! DAMN IT! FUCKING SHIT! KAGOME!_

His cell phone rang. At first he wanted to ignore it. Or better yet, crush it. Crush it like who ever took her. Damn them. Damn them to hell!

"WHAT THE FUCK IS IT?! He answered the phone.

"Inuyasha, did you find-" Miroku.

"NO! THEY TOOK HER! I'LL GO AND BURN TOKYO DOWN, THOSE BASTARDS! THEY FUCKING TOOK HER!"

"Not Tokyo. You don't have to leave Hakodate." Miroku said.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU WANT, MIROKU?!"

"I looked at the pictures here," He said, looking at the computer screen. At the picture Kagome's mother, father, her baby self and Steppy. "I know where you can find her, I think."

"WHERE!?"

"She's with Steppy, or Father Stepanov in reality. The Orthodox Church. It's near Hakodate mountain. I'll get the others. We'll catch up."

* * *

It feels so good getting that out now. 


	22. April First

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 22

April First

* * *

Saturday, April 1, 12:49 AM

Hakodate, Japan

Outside of the Orthodox Church of Japan

Inuyasha jumped off of Koika's Syukuchi the moment she hit the brakes, bounding up the stairs to the Orthodox Church. He could smell her scent here, albeit faintly.

He got to the large front door and immediately yanked at it with a growl. The pane of heavy wood groaned from the pressure but held firm against its hinges. _Locked_, he thought.

As Sango's Syukuchi, with her and Miroku, rolled up next to Koika, who was finishing parking hers, Inuyasha pounded as hard as he could against the door, leaving small dents from his fist. "STEPANOV! LET US IN YOU BASTARD! WE KNOW YOU HAVE HER! I SWEAR I'LL RIP OUT ALL YOUR LIMBS AND KNOCK YOUR HEAD WITH THEM IF YOU SO MUCH AS TOUCH HER!"

Koga sprinted up next to Miroku and Sango, himself slightly out of breath. After all, running across the city at demon speed for that long was a tiring thing. Miroku patted him on the back for support before bolting across the asphalt gravel up to the front steps of the Church he'd visited before.

_But… something is different about it this time…_ Miroku thought, his pace slowing progressively as he got up the last of the stairs to stand behind Inuyasha. Sango went flying by him and began pounding at the door too. "STEPANOV, AT LAST CHECK KILLING ONES NEIGHBOR WAS NOT SOMETHING YOUR GOD TALKED ABOUT! YOU ASS HOLE, WE'LL KILL YOU FOR EVERYTHING!" She screamed. After a moment more of pounding at the door, she looked down at the bottom sides of the doors, and then began picking at the cracks, aiming for the hinges behind them.

Koika came up by Miroku as Koga jogged past, heading for the front door for his assault too.

"What is it?" She asked, looking at Sango's boyfriend.

"Look at it…" He muttered mutely. Koika gazed upward at the church.

The top, front window was cracked and dirty, one side completely blown out. Near the rim of that side there were scorch marks, as if a large fire had burned its way right into the stone. Looking farther down, Miroku could see that the small windows near floor level all had wood nailed in on the inside. The bushes and gardens of the front hadn't been covered from the winters might, and now were all dead. Moreover, the lights both on the inside and outside of the church that were never supposed to be out were darkly quiet.

"I think…" Miroku said, more to himself since most of their group was attacking the front door instead of listening. "Rather, I don't think Stepanov is here."

Koika was the only one who seemed to hear. She looked the building over once more before running out the front entrance and around the bend. Miroku watched her run into the front entrance of the Anglican Church of Japan, the neighbor of the Orthodox. She profusely knocked on the door until it creaked open.

"May I h-help you this night, my sister?" A young, male monk asked in a whisper, hiding behind the door.

"Yes, may I ask what has happened to the Orthodox Church next door?

The young man gave a small yelp and flinched. "Nothing. It is only closed."

"But something must have-"

"Please, sister, it is closed. That is all." He shut the door with a terrified fervor.

Koika glanced over at Miroku through the gate and plastic covered shrubs. He shrugged his shoulders.

Koika furrowed her brow. She raised her hand up again and pounded on the door once more. Again the young monk answered. "Yes, sister?"

"May I ask for sanctuary?" She asked quietly in English.

The monk froze upon hearing his native tongue. For a moment he seemed to ponder if he should follow the law of the lord, uncertain if he would dare tempt either his or the devil's wrath. But then he grabbed her by the collar of her coat, opened the door a bit more, pulled her in, and shut it.

Miroku frowned at what he'd just seen, but he trusted Koika, even though he hadn't known her very long. He turned his focus back to the three pounding at the door, slowly walking up to them to inform them on his thoughts.

- -

"What-?!" Koika began, but the young monk put a finger to her lips. He then pointed towards the sanctuary beyond the front alcove they were in. Koika looked around him just enough to look to see who was in the dark room with wooden benches. In most of the aisles there were either the guards she had seen when they raided the university, or police members. Many were asleep in the ebony darkness, but a few were awake a talking in mutters.

Koika refrained a weak scream.

The monk pulled her to one side of the alcove, so they were hidden behind a coat rack. "The orthodox church was attacked in December. I was doing my nightly prayers in my quarters upstairs one night, a few days after Christmas, when I heard a crash outside. I looked out and I saw police throwing small flare bombs inside through the windows and going inside. They must have killed a few of the followers in their, since they had dragged their bodies out, but the rest were rounded up and put into a series of trucks."

Koika nodded to show she was following. "Why…?"

"The leader of the church, Stepanov… He wasn't cooperating with the government. He'd mentioned something to the head pastor here. Something about not telling them about his former life, and that it was a past he had asked god to forgive him for. God save his soul." He whispered.

"Our friend was taken by Stepanov. We know that he's-"

The monk shook his head. "Stepanov was one of the ones those people dragged out of the church. He's been dead for a long time now."

That got Koika's attention. The person they were searching for… he was dead? "So… why hasn't this church been attacked."

The monk shivered before adding another part to her sentence. "… yet."

"Yet?"

"We're a part of something. I have asked god, and he believes we are a part of something very important to them. You see, on the fourth, the French Prime minister is coming here to visit the grave of his great grandfather before he goes about touring the city for the United Nations. But… I fear for what is to come."

"Good monk," She said in English once more. "I must let you know something. It is most important to us and to all of us." She signaled to the building.

The monk frowned in confusion.

Koika breathed in hard, then unzipping the top of her coat and reaching beneath her shirt. She pulled out a small sliver, Celtic cross on a silver chain.

The monk was indeed surprised. "You… but, you're-"

"Yes, fully Japanese. Though the hair is a bit off." She finished for him, fingering her bleached locks. "I was born in Glasgow, then came here. But that is not what I need to tell you." She sighed as quietly again. "You know the old thought that Jesus shall rise again?"

"There are none of us who do not know." he answered quietly.

"Well… I'm beginning to think… he wasn't the only one something like that can happen to."

"My sister, I do not understand."

She gave a small shiver before continuing to whisper. She put her arms on his shoulders, looking him right in the eyes. "Brother… It is happening again."

"What is?"

"The Exodus."

He seemed completely confused now. "What-"

"The Exodus is happening again. It's almost done. It's on the tenth, and it's coming fast."

He looked dubious.

"Here, look." She pulled out a small piece of pink paper from her pocket and a pen. She wrote down the ten plagues that had been put on the earth, and gave it to him. He looked at it for a moment. Then his eyes went wide and skin pale as he went farther down the list. At one point the looked at her with pure terror before continuing.

"Dear lord, save us from our evils." He muttered as he handed it back to her with a sweaty palm.

"My friend… She is directly involved… I think she is the important one… She's been dealt the plagues since she was born. And, well… we _thought_ that she was taken by Stepanov, but…"

"We?"

"My friends and I." she answered. They stopped talking at someone came into the alcove.

"Sho, you want me to bring back some beer?"

"Yeah," They heard this Sho call back. "But don't forget the ramen! Oh, and see if you could get some panties or something."

"What, you horny?"

"Damn right!"

The police man in the alcove chuckled. "Fine, I'll get you a knocker. Where'd I put my coat in here?"

The coats the monk and Koika were behind began rattling.

The monk slowly moved backwards against the wall, holding his hands in a prayer fashion, praying wordlessly with closed eyes. Koika backed away from the area of rattle coats as easily as she could, but they seemed to follow her as he went.

"Crap, where is it…?" The man asked to himself, fingering through the rack.

Koika was trying not to keep herself from panting hard as she kept moving backwards. "Oh god…" she whispered to herself. "Please god, oh help…"

Her head hit soundly against the back of the wall. She froze in attempt to kill the sound as the coats stopped rattling in front of her. She shut her eyes hard and began to pray in her mind. _Oh god, oh god, please don't let him find me! Oh please god!_

The coat right next to her head shook for a moment before it was taken out. "Here it is…" The man said to himself. "But what do we have here?"

Koika opened her eyes and found two, dark brown eyes glaring her through the rack. The guard pushed all of the remaining coats on the rack down the line to fully reveal her.

Koika gasped. She'd always thought that it was pathetic when a person froze from terror that was staring right at them. But she'd never experienced it until now. She was stuck, like a small mouse before a large, hungry cat.

The man grabbed her by the collar of the coat, firmly thwacking her forehead against the coat rail as he pulled her up. "Who the hell are you?" He seemed to roar with a furious glower.

She might have answered him if she could get enough air into her lungs. She clawed desperately against his hands, but the fatty appendages continued to tighten their grip. "Answer me, bitch."

"Hey, screw the panties!" Sho called from the Sanctuary. "I'll take that! It'll cost less money, anyway."

Koika let her eyes show terror. The man only seemed to enjoy it. "Oh, I don't think she likes the sound of that, Sho. She looks a little scared with her primpy bleached hair. Why don't you be the whore you are, eh? You want some fu-"

_No one calls me a whore and gets away with it!_ The fear turned to fury. Koika dug her fingernails into his hands, giving him a solid kick in the groin. The man bent over in pain, but she didn't care. She grabbed the back of his head, swung it up, and knocked her elbow right into his nose a few times. Then she jumped up, kicked him in the diaphragm, and upon landing, bolted for the door and ran outside screaming. "GO, GO, GO, GO, **_GO!!!_**" She yelled at her friends, who looked up at her from their spot near the Syukuchis.

As she sprinted down the front path, the door to the Anglican church burst open, and a bloody nosed man came out in a slight stupor, his dark guard uniform moistened from his body fluid.

Sango jumped on her Syukuchi and started it up, Miroku jumping on behind her. Inuyasha got on Koika's and fiddled with a moment before turning it on and heading out towards the road. Koga, though, ran up to the front of the Anglican church, picked Koika up, put her on his back, and took off running.

* * *

1:29 AM

Hakodate University

Outside of Kichinkyo building, Women's dormitory

Koika only began to breath again as Koga slowed to a halt outside of Kichinkyo building. She wanted to keep holding onto him, for that made her feel safe. But he gently went down on his knees so she could step off easily, which she did.

A moment later, both Syukuchis came up behind them, their riders confused. Inuyasha jumped off first. "What the hell did you do?!"

"I'm sorry!" Koika answered as best as she could. "I thought I could get some info from the people at the Anglican-"

"YOU COMPLETELY SCREWED THINGS OVER KOIKA! WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN INTO THE ORTHODOX CHURCH BY NOW! WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN KAGOME!"

"I said I'm sorry!" She said, tears starting to well up.

"Inuyasha…" Sango began.

"Calm down." Miroku finished.

"THE HELL I WILL! DO ANY OF YOU CARE ABOUT KAGOME AT ALL! IS THIS SOME BIG ADVENTURE OR SOMETHING TO YOU! YOU WANT SOME ATTENTION, TOO?!" He screamed at Koika furiously. "HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID! WHAT-"

"WOULD YOU SHUT UP ALREADY, YOU BASTARD! DON'T' BE SO SELFISH; WE ALL CARE ABOUT KAGOME!" Koika yelled back, steaming tears rolling down her cheeks.

"THE HELL YOU DO! AND WHO SAID YOU COULD SAY I WAS SELFISH! I AINT SLEFISH!"

"I WAS ALMOST RAPED IN THERE!" She yelled back.

"FUCKING LIAR! YOU WANT MORE ATTENTION, EH? YOU WANT EVERYONE TO WORRY ABOUT YOU TOO?!"

"THAT'S **ENOUGH** INUYASHA!" Koga roared at the half demon. Koika looked up at the wolf with teary eyes.

He was indeed pissed.

"OH, YOU WANT SOME TOO, WOLF SHIT? WANT SOME ATTENTION! WANT THE SPOT LIGHT!?"

Sango jumped in front of Inuyasha, grabbed both his ears and twisted them hard. " HEY, STOP IT!"

"THE HELL I WILL!" The half demon roared, throwing her off him harshly so she slammed against the rough asphalt. He was about to yell again until something hard struck the back of his skull. He teetered for a moment before everything went black, and he collapsed to the ground.

Miroku breathed heavily, adrenaline slowly leaving his blood as he dropped the Syukuchi to the ground, a solid imprint of the back of Inuyasha's head in the front bender. "Ass hole…"

Koika breath was staggered, tuned in tempo with her boiling tears. Her entire body was shaking as she stared at the hanyo's sleeping form. "You can say that again!"

"Aah…" Sango hissed quietly she brought herself off the ground. The knee to her pants leg was torn open, and the skin beneath it had been ripped open a fair bit. Miroku flew over to her and gently helped her up, for which she thanked him.

They all stood there for a moment.

"Now what do we do?" Koga asked.

"I don't know." Sango said. "I want to keep looking for Kagome, but… I don't know where to even start. If the Orthodox Church really is closed-"

"It is." Koika said. "Stepanov was killed during a raid on it. A monk in the Anglican church told me."

Sango nodded. "Right… Then who else might have taken her?"

"The government?" Miroku put out. "Sango, should I go get a bandage for that?"

"It'll be fine. I'll get one in a minute." She said, squeezing his hand. "And that is a good idea, but it would be really… I don't know."

"I know what you mean, Sango." Koga said, crossing his arms. "Something doesn't feel right about accusing the guards. I don't think they knew enough. And from what we heard on the movie, Steppy was one of the people who called for the massacre in Paris. Don't forget, there were a lot of other bishops who called for that. And… At the orthodox church… It was faint, but I could smell Kagome's scent. She was there at some point recently."

"How can you tell it was recent?" Sango asked.

"A scent trail doesn't last for long in a city, at most maybe an hour or two. Kagome was either at or went past that church after she was taken."

"I just thought of something…" Koika said quietly, her sobs almost under full control. "What about Yuka? Sh-she can't stay here. They'll come looking for her, too."

"Right." Miroku answered. "Any ideas?"

"I have one." Sango said, looking at his eyes firmly. "I have a lot of friends around the city, and a whole ton are fishermen. I-"

"How do you know so many fishermen?" Miroku asked with a tinge of jealousy.

"Oh, come off it. I've lived here my whole life, remember?… I could probably get one of them to take her to Okushiri-to, and then across the Nihon-kai to Russia. She'd need to get a little more food in her first, though: That trip could take days."

"If it gets her out of the country, it's good." Koika said.

"You know, if we do find Kagome and she's not… dead…" Koga began. Everyone seemed to flinch at the word that haunted the tenth plague. "Then we might have to call a few more of your fishermen friends to get us out too. We'd probably become targets of this regime."

"I think we already are." Koika said under her breath.

"Okay, how about this for a course of action." Sango began, releasing herself from Miroku's grip. "Miroku and I will go to a few friends of mine to try and find one who'll take Yuka. Koika… you can go up to my dorm and look after her until we get back. And Koga… You could either stay with Koika, look for more stuff for finding Kagome or just look for her. It's your choice."

Koika stood silently, mulling it over in his head. "I think…" he began, looking down at the shaken Koika. "I'll stay with Koika 'til she feels better, and then I'll go out looking for Kagome. I might try to contact some other wolf demons on campus that haven't been arrested yet to se if they could help."

"Okay then…" Sango fumbled wither her coat for a moment before pulling out a key, which she handed over to Koika. "Here, that should get you in." She said, heading back over to her Syukuchi. "I'll keep my cell phone on! Call if anything happens!"

Miroku put on his helmet after her and got on the Syukuchi. Sango roared the engine to life again and sped off down the cold, dark, quiet road.

Koga slowly bent down and picked up the knocked out Inuyasha, tossed him over his shoulder and headed for the door, Koika not far behind. She unlocked the front door and went inside, thankful to see that everyone, including the snoring desk person, had turned in for the night. She beckoned for Koga to come on, and then the two quietly made their way to the stairs. Just as they got into the stair well, the elevator chimed.

The elevator.

The _broken_ elevator.

Koga propped Inuyasha against the wall and railing before peeking around the corner. A man and woman, both national guards, stepped out with dark red, leather suitcases. "How long till it goes off again?" The man asked the woman.

"Goodness, _you_ made it! We've got a half hour to cover our tracks, okay? Now stop talking about it!"

"Oh shit…" Koga whispered. He picked Inuyasha back up and, after hearing the front doors slam shut, he began bolting up the stairs.

"What is it?!" Koika called after him.

"A bomb, I think!" He yelled back.

"WHAT?!"

"Be quiet!" Koga stopped at one step, half way up the third floor. _Hold on, when we left here before, we broke through those front doors! How'd they get fixed so fast?!_

He had a revelation of mass proportions. "Oh crap, oh crap, oh crap! Koika, give me the key!" He ordered. She handed the small piece of metal over to him. "Look when we get up there, pull a fire alarm or knock on doors or something! We have to get everyone out of here!"

She yawned at him and then nodded. "Got it."

He was about to keep going until he noticed that Koika yawned again. "Are you sleepy through all of this?"

"Kind… Kind of… I dunno, I'm just… real tired all the sudden…" She said, following him up the stairs.

With his open arm, he reached into his pocket, pulling out a Wolf Demon Club bandana, tossing it to her. "Put that over your mouth and nose. Just try to get anyone out that you can!" And he headed up.

As they passed each flight of stairs, Koika became less and less tired, as if waking up with altitude. Upon reaching the eighth floor, the top, she was fully well, and took the bandana off. "That was really weird…" She said.

"Pull an alarm!!" Koga yelled as he ran down Kagome's hallway.

"Right!" She called back, and looked around the main room. On the opposite side of the room, there was a small, red fire alarm, not too far away from the oven. She ran over to it, but then found that the lever to pull the alarm had been cut clean off, as if by a laser. Koika looked down on the ground, and sure enough found the severed handle. "Koga! The alarm's been killed!"

"WHAT!?" He called back, fumbling with the key.

"THE FIRE ALARM! IT'S BEEN CUT IN HALF!" From the sounds of things, he didn't hear. Koika growled to herself before heading down the opposite hallway. She began knocking and kicking at each door she came to, but not so much as a sound came from them in return.

Koga was really beginning to feel the half demon's weight now. He set him down on the floor and turned back to the key hole.

But he stopped. He looked back down at the ground again. From beneath the door, a weak, milky haze was streaming out.

Koga gulped he entered the room.

A blast of the smoke billowed out from the room, emptying from his chest down and out into the hallway. Across the room he saw Yuka, covering her mouth with blanket, looking relived from the top of Sango's bunk. "Oh Buddha… " he said, wading through the room to get to her. "What happened?!"

"The smoke… it came from the bottom vents…"

He gently picked her up off the bedspread and carefully brought himself down to the floor of the dorm. "You think you can walk for a bit?"

"Not long…" She said wearily.

"Okay, just walk out into the hallway for me, okay? I'm just going to get some stuff in here, get Inuyasha and Koika, and get out of here. I think there's a bomb in the building."

She only nodded, shakily taking small steps towards the door. As the fog cleared a bit from the room, he could see down to the floor. Koga took a breath of air and held it as he went below. He found Kagome's tin of special stuff fairly quickly. He took care to snag a few small things that he thought would be important to her, and then snagged a few more things of Sango's and chucked them into one of her cardboard boxes. Just as he was about to come up for air, he looked at Yuka's legs, which hadn't gone very far.

For the first time, he noticed her feet her dead black. He touched one, and she didn't flinch.

Koga sprang back up to the surface, heaving. "Yuka…"

"I'm going as fast as… I can…!"

"No, your feet-"

"Frost bite…" She said, reaching the door. She kept on going to get to the hallway. "Even a demon would get it… after going two hundred miles… in snow…"

That was a conversation starter, to say the least. But time was most certainly of the essence. It'd had been ten minutes since they'd gotten in the building. They had to get out in twenty.

He grabbed his flash drive, stuck it in Kagome's computer USB port, and hit the intake button. _That should take a while…_ He thought, snagging Sango's new computer. He headed out the door, picking up Yuka as he went. Koga hurried into the front main room and dropped both the girl and his load on the couch there. "Hold on," He said, heading back down the hallway to pick up Inuyasha. He swiftly brought the half demon to the main room, dropped him on the last area of the couch, and then headed down the hallway Koika had headed.

"Koika!?" he called. "Oi, Koika! We gotta go, now!"

He heard a door crash open, and the faint words of "…finally!…"

Koga took a right, ran down the corridor, and found the hall Koika was on. "What is this stuff!?" She yelled as the billowing smoke burst forth from the room she broke into.

"The stuff that was making you tired earlier!" He called back. "We gotta go!"

"Wait! Reheko, are you in here!? Reheko?!" Koika tripped and fell into the gas.

"KOIKA!"

She sprang back up, her face purely terrified. "I fell over Reheko…!"

"I know, she's knocked out-"

"SHE'S DEAD!"

"WHAT?!"

"HER EYES WERE OPEN AND ROLLED BACK INTO HER SKULL! SHE'S DEAD!" Koika began to heave and shake, closing her arms around her body, stepping back a little farther into the room. "Oh my god… Oh god, my best friend! God, how could you do this!? Why would you do this?! Reheko, oh please!"

"Let's go!" Koga ordered, now much more careful not to get any of the stuff into his lungs. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the dorm room, sprinting back to the main room. "Here," He said, pushing the box of stuff towards her. "You take this. Put the bandana- stop crying! It's meant as a filter, not a tissue!"

"B-but… Reheko-!"

"Grieve later! We gotta get out of here now!" He yelled. Koga ran back Kagome's hallway and ducked inside, not giving a whim to Koika's calls for her apparently deceased friend. His flash drive was beeping, indicating it had taken in as much it could. He yanked it out, grabbed the blanket off the top of Kagome's bed, and ran back out to the main room.

Koika was still using the bandana as a tear wipe, but at least she was un-crumpling it to put over her face. Koga dodged by them and went to the stairs, looking down the flights to the bottom. The murky haze was growing like a mushroom down there.

He went back to the couch. "Koika - breath, Koika -, can you take the box down stairs?"

No response.

"Koika, c'mon!"

She nodded wearily.

"Okay, get going; wait, here." He took her by the arm and turned her around. He snatched the bandana from her hands and put it over her nose and mouth, tying it in the back. "there, now get going."

She only nodded, jogging over to the stairs and starting down.

Koga went over to the couch again. He grabbed a part of the blanket and ripped it off, getting a good face size piece from the cloth. He quickly gave it to Yuka before getting on his knees so she could get on his back. Once secure, he stood up, and picked up Inuyasha in his arms, draping the blanket over his upper body and head.

_He may be an ass hole, but Kagome… he's important to her…_

Koga headed down the stairs.

The first two flights weren't so bad, but once he got to the sixth floor the haze had started creeping down the stairs. It was only mildly/progressively worse as he got to the fifth floor, then catching up to Koika, who was standing at what seemed to be like a pool of smoke flowing from the fourth floor. Koga nudged her along and took a mouthful of the blanket into his mouth, making note to breath only from there.

They entered it.

It was fairly hard to see, but small lights at each stair helped guide them downward. Once they got to the third floor it the smoke lightened up slightly, and a little more by the time they got to the second floor. The ground floor was significantly clearer than any of the previous ones, but it was more diluted, since the vents were from the ceiling. As they exited the building, Koga looked over at the front desk attendant whom he'd presumed was asleep before. This time he looked up, and found that a vent was placed directly above her.

He sighed with melancholy, but left the building in her wake.

Koika was already latching the box onto the back hooks of her Syukuchi. Koga kneeled again to let Yuka off onto the Syukuchi. "Go to Giyaga-ro building, okay? It's on the other side of campus. I'll call Sango from there." He said.

* * *

5:02 AM

Kameda, Japan

Hoshinkiri's Shore Dock

Miroku, Sango, Koga and Koika looked on wearily as the small motor boat with Sango's younger brother, his neighborly friend, and Yuka slowly faded into the darkness of the previous night, the light of dawn spreading behind them.

"Not a single one…" Sango said to herself. "Not one… some friends…"

"It's okay. They're just scared of being caught, that's all." Miroku said, rubbing her back sympathetically. "They would have helped if they weren't scared."

"Yuka was scared." Koga said lowly. "But she helped us, and paid for it."

The Miroku and Sango looked at him with confusion, while Koika just stared off into the water with reminiscence.

"She's got frost bite all over her feet and hands. She'll probably have to have amputation the moment she gets to Vladisvostok."

Sango looked back over the water. "How'd she do it…? Escape from a concentration camp, go through two hundred miles of mountains and snow…?"

"She had a friend she was worried about." Koika said in a breathy tone.

Miroku nodded. "Yeah…" A thought entered his mind. "What do you think Inuyasha is going to do when he wakes up?"

"Maim you." Koga and Sango said in unison.

* * *

I'm glad Koga could get a little spot light. As did Koika. All of them, really.

But now they are really in for it.


	23. April Second, Third

-A/N - You're in for it this time.

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 23

April Second, Third

* * *

Sunday, April 2, 3:14 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Kichinkyo Building, Women's Dormitory

Sango, her eyes very weary and dark from scouring the city for much longer than a normal person would be awake, let them fly wide open when she came up to her dormitory, Kichinkyo. It was perfectly intact and safe, unlike what Koga had told her.

The only hint that things weren't right were the several police officers stationed outside, along with an ambulance driving away from the front. She let it past before heading up to the door.

"This building is off limits." The tall man in uniform said.

"This is my dorm. Please let me-" Sango didn't have time to finish her sentence as the other guard whipped around her and twisted her arms together, placing a thick set of handcuffs on both wrists. "ACK! HELP! SOMEBODY, PLEASE!"

"Shut _UP_!" The guard said as he pushed her into the dorm. It smelled awful, like a mixture of freshly poured asphalt and sulfur.

The other one followed behind them. "Don't shut up yet. Give us your name. Now."

Sango swallowed hard as the air from her lungs drained away. If they found out who she was, they'd know who her dorm partner was. She'd be locked up and taken away for someone to try and torture her for information about Kagome. "Uh-"

The guard who asked for her name took his hand out of her coat pocket. "Let's see… she has a dorm key, but it has residue of the sulfur dichromate…" He scratched at the numbers on the top of the key. "… Hah. Yep, we found her. Yunotoaija Sango, neh?"

She made a puttering sound of defiance as a reply.

"Whatever. I'll radio top, then we'll bring her up." He said, walking outside again. Two other guards in the front main room walked closer to her and her holder, both holding their hands awfully close to their guns. The four of them waited about a minute in silence before the other man came back in. "Okay, she goes now." He said. Sango was pushed forward to walk forth and left to ascend the stairs.

As they headed up a now seemingly never ending trail of steps, Sango watched some of the guards go up and down the path. Most were young men, a few not that much older than herself. Though she did see an older man with gray hair stepping down the steps when she got to the third floor. _Are they really getting that desperate? Hiring old men who should be in retirement? Talk about respect for the elders…_

With each step Sango slowly became a little bit more apparent of what was happening to her now, as she rounded the sixth floor. "What are you-?"

She was thanked in the back of the head by another man's fist. "Shut _UP_!"

Sango slipped on the stair she was on, causing a curse from her holder guard who worked hard to get her to her feet. "Trying to be a nuisance, neh?" He asked.

Sango remained silent as she kept on walking.

"Oi, I asked you a question!"

"And _He_," She rolled her head backwards. "Told me to shut up!"

The guard following them laughed. "Oh, she's smart! Watch out, Hondo; don't get confused!"

"**_Both_** of you shut up!" The holder yelled with a tinge of embarrassment.

They got to the eighth floor.

Sango suddenly felt her stomach do a loop and sink into her pelvis. A sense of foreboding death had swept over her as she paced into the main lounge room of her floor, turning left to go down her hallway. Cold sweat beaded on her panicked forehead, for every door there was open and being cleaned by people in large, red suits.

Except her room. It was closed.

They walked forth. The guard behind her and her holder used Sango's key to open the door, opening it swiftly. The guard behind her punched her in the back so she went flying into her room, the door slamming quickly in her wake.

"Look," A woman said, from the area near the window. Sango pushed herself off the floor to a semi-kneeling position. "I don't have time for any avoiding answers or anything, Ms. Yunotoaija. Just give me the truth, and you'll be left alone in this dorm room. Got it?"

Sango sank down into a kneel now, and warily nodded.

"Kagome Higurashi." The woman asked, spitting out the open window. She was rather squat and her face was… well, it reminded Sango of hippopotamus, really, with her grayish skin, large flabby cheeks and small, glints of eyes. "What do you know about her."

"Um…" She gulped as quietly as she could. "I… could you be…"

"I **_SAID_**-" She shrieked in an awful tone, her face slightly distraught, but unmoving from the window. "for you to **_NOT_** beat around the bush! Answer me!"

"Miss, your question is rather vague-"

"Fine, you want specifics?!" She cried again. She was glaring out the window, towards the south west. "Damn specifics. I know you know what I meant by that question, but take this one: Where is she?"

"Higurashi?"

"Who else?!" She spat again.

"I…I don't… know…"

"You don't know…?" She repeated incredulously. "You could at least be more creative, Yunotoaija."

"No, I don't know!" Sango said with more fervor. Her mind was working frantically to try and figure out some sort of alibi to cover for her and the others.

"Try **_again_**, Yunotoaija…" The woman wasn't speaking with furious fire, but deathly ice.

"Try again what!? I told you, I don't kn-"

"LIAR!" The woman screamed, throwing a book at Sango's face. The corner landed hard against her cheek bone, making Sango yelp in pain. "TELL ME THE BLOODY TRUTH, YUNOTOAIJA! WHERE IS HIGURASHI KAGOME!"

"I DON'T KNOW!"

The woman guard lunged at Sango. She tried to get out of the way, but the woman grabbed hold of a chunk of her hair and yanked it up, forcing Sango slightly to her feet in agony. Especially since she had pulled so hard that the woman had taken out half of that hair from her head. "I'm no idiot, Yunotoaija. I do my research well. I know you are good friends with her. I know you have at least a small hint as to her whereabouts."

Sango's mind was racing now. It still hadn't come up with a flawless alibi, and it seemed she was running out of working time.

"**_ANSWER ME!!_**"

She only breathed hard and squinted from the pain of her hair.

"You know, about her little chats to another friend of yours in Seoul…" The woman began. This time Sango opened her eyes. "Wouldn't be a miracle if… say, our grand nation invaded… she and her pathetic Korean family somehow survived? What do you think, Sango? Do you want a miracle or hell for her and the feces of a few other Koreans? Neh…?"

"BUSAN!" Sango gave heavy, staggered breath, her eyes scrunched together in terror. It didn't stop tears from leaking out. "SHE'S IN BUSAN! SHE LEFT LAST NIGHT! PLEASE, DON'T KILL RIN! PLEASE!"

The woman sneered. "That's an awful far way away from Hakodate, Yunotoaija. The other side of Japan."

"IT'S THE TRUTH! SHE GOT A FRIEND TO TAKE HER THERE BY PLANE! I WATCHED THEM LEAVE LAST NIGHT!"

The woman guard looked over Sango's face; bruised, weary, tearful, and now slightly bloody.

"Fine." She dropped Sango to the ground. "If turns out to be fake,"

"It's… the truth!" Sango wheezed.

"So you say. But if it isn't, I'll personally take out each one of those little nails on your hands and then cut them off. Nice and slow… wanna say anything else, now?"

"She's in Busan."

The woman gave a slightly joyful sigh. "Fine." She opened up the door and headed out, but then quickly came back in and switched on the television. "That should serve you well on the gravity of things."

She left and slammed the door, cracking the frame. Sango blankly looked up at the screen, mentally congratulating herself on a creative excuse.

It was a JIBC broadcasting station. Their news logo was flashing in front of her, shown with a Japanese flag flying behind it.

"We have some urgently breaking news about the security of our divine nation this afternoon, viewers." The anchor man said. The camera was zoomed in on him with a small picture to the top right of his face. The picture then turned into a map of Japan and zoomed in on Hokkaido. "It seems that last night, a communist radical terrorist, named Higurashi Kagome, detonated a chemical bomb at a Hakodate University dormitory, killing almost all of the 138 residents inside. It is reported that there might be one survivor, but she has yet to be located. The situation is contained and the prefecture is on lockdown, but any information about the whereabouts of this bloodthirsty radical or the possible survivor, Yunotoaija Sango, are to be forwarded to the nearest police station."

Sango's jaw dropped. "Those… dirty bastards…"

* * *

9:49 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Kagome's eyes felt like lead as her mind slowly came back into waking, functional order. She lifted her head slightly to try and look around, but an agonizing pain shot down her spine and into every crevice of her body from any movement in her neck. She gasped in pain, which then turned into a heaving cough, thrusting her abdominal muscles and diaphragm hard as her lungs and stomach convulsed. Her pupils grew to let in the little light in the darkness of her surroundings, trying to focus on something to give her mental balance to keep her stomach calm.

She heard a door swing open a fair distance away from her and then slam shut. "Oi, Steppy!" She heard a woman yell out. "Where are you?!"

There was a pause. Then a deep thundering voice rang out directly in front of her right ear. "Observing, Val. S'that dinner?"

"Eh, I guess." Val said. There was some rustling for a moment, then footsteps, heels, clicking against a hard, cold floor. "I couldn't find a Russian place still open, so I got some sushi."

"Ugh…" the male voice by her ear rang out. " I'm getting so _sick _of that rice crap."

_Wait…_ Kagome's mind was lulling back to awareness of her surroundings. _She… called him…_ _"…_Steppy…?"

"Hm?" His voice, though very deep and powerful, almost like listening to a divine being, was odious and revolting, to such an extent now that his presence made her blood boil.

"…_You…bastard…_"

Her eyes didn't catch the sight of the foot moving, but in an instant her face was screaming in pain from a direct kick to the mouth and chin.

"Your not even worth talking to, little fucker." His voice was low and in a whisper as he held her hair to bring her ear just a bit closer to his mouth, so much she could feel the spit raining out. "You, an infidel, even _touching_ a half demon… You shall forever burn in hell for your path with Satan."

Her stomach was still turning as she tried to speak, blood from her cut lip and tongue leaking out. "…**_murderer_**…"

"Saintly liberator." He corrected, putting a finger to her chin.

She vigorously moved her head down to get it away, but the pain in her neck kept from doing so with a wail and muffled cry of pain. It was then that she realized that she was tied up and suspended on something in mid air.

He moved his finger down from her chin, tracing a line along her throat until it arrived at the spot where her collar bones met where he stopped. "The almighty god shall thank you for you gift, but either way condemn you to permanent companionship in the fires below." He applied pressure to the spot, causing Kagome to gasp in for air violently wheeze. He pushed down farther and deeper, he petrified, muted screams breaking only her mind, her torso muscles lashing out to empty the lungs and get in needed oxygen. He kept going and going until she felt her stomach gurgle, and then she vomited.

"Ah, first one." She said, scooting back in a chair. "That should get the rest going."

"Hey, Steppy, want me to take over after dinner? I'm aching for a little psychological _and_ physical, especially after speaking with her tewified widdle bewst fwuend." Val asked, with baby speak at the end.

Steppy was headed over to her voice, and the only light in the room Kagome was in. The light was shut out by the closing of a door, letting a small trickle of light from a light outside a high up window in.

But sound wasn't blocked by the door. "You've been wearing that uniform all day?! Lord save you, Valentina, I took mine off after checking the dorm building this afternoon! What have you been doing all day?!"

"Oh, you'd be surprised what you can get by wearing this thing," She said. "I actually walked into a store and demanded their money in the name of the country, and that little old lady actually handed it all over to me! And you don't have to look at me like that: I used it to get dinner and the rest I put in the communion box."

"No, I wasn't looking at you like that because - Ugh, this infidelian stuff even smells disgusting - of the money. What about the hag: She'll ask if it's being used right or something to another guard and then we'll have them to worry about."

"No we won't."

"Why is that, heaven allow?"

"Cause she can't speak now: knocked her jaw clean off."

Kagome's heart ached as her stomach churned again.

"All in the name of God almighty." He said. There was a hushed silence that Kagome assumed meant they had started eating.

_I knew it would happen… but not like this…_ She thought to herself trying to take in her surroundings from the little light that there was. _I don't want to die like this… I'll be a matyr for peace, but not a tortured for… what are those two after anyway?…_

Now she knew where she was. The front of a congregation hall. She was suspended way up in the air, with prickly twine, icy chain and gnawing rope. All to keep her attached to an unmoving cross.

She vomited again, the taste of drugs besieging her taste buds.

The two in the back said "Amen."

* * *

Monday, April 3, 3:39 PM

Hakodate, Japan

Downtown shopping District

Sango held her hands deep inside her gray cardigan, looking out from under her hat and through the shop window. _They're not here yet…_

She pulled away and moved back into the shaded darkness of the tonic shop. Ever since Saturday a massive heat spell had begun to fall upon Hokkaido, signaling the coming of summer. Spring was just a small three week period, which was now, but it was even hotter than the meteorologists had predicted: 30 degrees Celsius.

Thus, Sango was wearing clothing that let a little bit more of the heat out. She'd done a good job of choosing, too: On her way to the meeting spot, she'd been given a dirty glance by a guard, while another woman who had a dress that ended at her knees had gotten beaten and whisked off in a police car.

She flipped the magazine page she was pretending to read, glancing over a shelf at the cashier clerk. He didn't seem to notice.

Desperately Sango checked her watch again. It was almost 3:45 now. Almost the time she told them to meet her, and yet there was no one there. An empty side walk… aside from the other people that were walking around in the shopping district of downtown Hakodate.

_Did something happen… Wait, breath. Just give them a few more minutes…_

That would be all she'd give them too before she started heading back to the university, considering her Syukuchi had been impounded the day before.

Across the street she saw a Peho-ia 200 come into a parking spot in the train station nearby, and it's two riders getting off quickly and looking around. Sango gave a sigh of relief, setting down the magazine and heading out the door to summon Miroku and Koika, who ran to the other side when the traffic signal allowed them to. "Sango!" Miroku cried as he got up to her. "Your cheek-!?"

She didn't give him a very verbal answer, instead hugging her boyfriend dire and close. Even if guards had come up behind her right then and had started yelling at them for an "Inappropriate Display of Lechery", as they so called it, she wouldn't have dared let go of the one man that made her safe. That was something no amount of beating or torture could take away from her. Love might be something they disregarded, but Sango Yunotoaija liked it a lot and wanted it to keep on going for a long time. Maybe for as long as she lived. Did she really love Miroku that much? From stealing little glances at him no rare occasions to now not wanting to be separated ever… was he really the one?

_I don't know that. But right now… I don't want to be near anyone else._

She felt him gently wrap his arms around her shoulders and rub her back.

_He may tick me off, but I always laugh it off… since he can do that._

"…Sango…?" Miroku was a bit perplexed by her sudden glomming. Koika had strategically placed herself in front of the eye sight of a passing policeman and the couple. "Come on, you two;" She hissed through clenched teeth. "You won't fit behind me from every angle! Wrap it up please!"

"Miroku…" Sango scooted up against the cement building side of the tonic shop she was just in, pulling herself and the bewildered boy down to the ground. Koika stuttered intangible things to herself as she moved closer to the two as a human sight wall.

"What happened to you…?" he asked her, looking through her eyes to the deeper parts behind them.

"Yesterday…They came after me…"

Miroku stayed silent, though his eyes glinted with s shocked fervor and anger, his jaw tensing rigid as he stared at her intently.

"And…" She took his hands in hers. "…I was so… just terrified. Not so much of what might happen to me, but what might happen to me… if I didn't get to see you again."

He let out a pained blast of air.

"I know we're barely into the 'longterm relationship' time yet, but… I just want you to know that I do… I do want to be near you. All the time. And… that's pretty much it. I wanted you to know that in case we couldn't… unless it wouldn't be possible for me to tell you that before I die."

Miroku gently let his eyes close, opening his mouth as if to speak. He kept his tongue, though, trying to decide the best way to respond. The idiotic thing to say would be that they wouldn't die I this, since he had no idea if they would, or even if Kagome would be alive if they found her. But he didn't dare be so harsh so as to brush her away.

"Then I…" He began, but cleared his throat before it cracked on him. "Then I…" Miroku tried again, but sighed in frustration. "Sango, I really want to promise you that… that it'll all come out all nice and dandy. That we'll find Kagome and there'll be a coup and all of that, but… I just can't. I can't even promise you that… how much I care about you now will stay like that. But I do care, pretty much the same as you."

She nodded. "Not like true love or anything, but…"

"…Not to be underestimated…" He finished.

"Oh, that's pretty." Koika said mockingly up above. "Koga and Inuyasha are here."

Miroku rolled his eyes at Koika (which was an interesting statement in itself) before getting off the ground, helping Sango off the ground on his way up. The three headed a little farther down the sidewalk to get closer to where Inuyasha and Koga were coming from, eventually stopping at the side of a large, orange supply truck.

"She looked exactly like her!" They heard Koga whisper to the half demon next to him who looked less than amused.

"What are you two talking about?" Miroku asked lowly, raising an eyebrow. "Inuyasha's choice of women?"

He got a very nasty glare in response from one person there, while the others were a bit confused. Miroku scratched the back of his head. "If only all of you had seen a picture of Kikyo…"

"Kikyo?…" Koika asked. She too got a very angry look from a doggy with ruffled fur.

"Inuyasha's ex." Sango whispered in her ear. She remembered back to her trip with Kagome to the grocery store months ago, but had only seen a glimpse of the woman that used to hold the hanyo's heart.

Koika only nodded in understanding the term, but not the person. "Okay."

"No, we we're not talking about _her_…" Inuyasha began with an icy tone. "The wolf here is smoking something illegal, that's all."

"I am not, mutt! I'm telling you, it was the same pyscho bitch!"

"And I'm telling **you**-" Inuyasha began, his voice a little louder. "That your brain's fried!"

"MINE!? Your one to talk! I'm surprised the Syukuchi got a dent while you didn't, since your head is hollow!"

"Oi." The three remaining people in the huddle said in unison. Koika waved her hand around a bit to get their attention. "Mind explaining?"

"I just did!"

"No, Inuyasha, you just insulted him. That may be funny-" Koga growled. "-At times, but not now. Koga, you tell us what's going on, since you seem to be the one who… well, who knows what's going on, I guess."

The wolf demon bowed his head slightly before speaking. "Thanks. That night when I went into Kichinkyo-"

"Which did **_not_** blow up." Sango interjected.

"Yes, I **know.** So I made a little mistake with interpreting what they meant, but not in that something very big happened!"

"Yes, we know." Miroku said in an unusually mature tone. "Go on."

"That night, the people who got out of the elevator were a slightly elderly man and a shorter woman, who I swore was the one who ordered Inuyasha, Kagome and I around on Valentines day for clean up stuff."

"Keh." Inuyasha stuffed his arms on top of each other over his chest. " You're brain is screwed."

"No it is **NOT!**"

Miroku looked at the two. "Okay… so then, why-" Sango pushed her boyfriend out of the way, walking right up to Koga's face. "You said she was short?"

"Yeah, pretty short."

"Like a few decimeters short or like just over a meter tall short?"

"Maybe 1.3 meters…?"

"Did she have her hair tied up?"

"You mean in a bun?" Koga asked.

"EXACTLY!"

"Yeah!" He gave a smug look at the half demon standing next to him. "Have you seen her too?!"

"OF COURSE I HAVE!" She yanked off her cloth hat. The members of the huddle either gasped or widened their eyes at the purple and green chunk of skin on the side of her head. All the hair was gone in the patch above her right temple, which was also slightly bumpy, the remnants of blood clinging on to it and nearby hairs. "She's the one who did this to me yesterday!"

"A short woman…" Miroku's mind was ringing a bell soundly, but he couldn't place all the way. "Short…" _C'mon… why does that description sound familiar…?!_

"Holy crap, it's Valentina." Miroku said to himself quietly. The insides of his palms began to sweat slightly, his face changing into one of shocked horror. "Oh crap…"

"What?" Koga asked Sango's boyfriend. The others looked at him as well.

Miroku breath sped up. "It's Valentina. She was a nun at the Orthodox Church with Stepanov. She's been watching us all this time."

"No way that woman could have been a nun." Sango said bitterly. "She might have been a demon, but not a nun."

Koga and Inuyasha looked at her coldly.

She shook her head. "You idiots, I'm talking about a demon as in personality and morals, not DNA!"

"Sango, which way do we go from here to the Orthodox Church?" Miroku asked.

Pointed back the way they had come from the side walk. "That way." She began to walk and talk at the same time. "It's in the Motomachi area, at the foot of Mount Hakodate, remember!? It's not that far-"

Sango walked right into a woman headed in the opposite direction. "Oh, sorry-' she began. But then she looked up and fluttered backward, nearly knocking Inuyasha over, whom had been following Sango very closely.

Koga gulped as the color drained from his face. "A-Ayame…?!"

The wolf demoness, clad in a red and white kimono, at first seemed slightly shocked. But after the initial surprise faded, her face became distraught with fury. "You out looking for your little bitch?!"

"What?!" Koga backed up little bit, Forcing Koika to move out of the way and beside him.

"Oh you know, ass hole. Your little bitch, Higurashi! You out looking for your little **_whore_**?!"

"AYAME!" Sango screamed in a tone so much like her mother it might have scared her if she weren't preoccupied.

The redhead turned around with an icily smug look on her face. "What, like yelling my name is supposed to scare me or something?"

"Wh- NO! But who's to say _you_ can say **_anything_**like that about Kagome!? You don't even know-"

"Shut up." She almost spat at her, turning back to the full demon who seemed petrified to the bone. "So, loose another one? Oh I heard all about that little bitch. Oh, you sure like them fiery, don't you? A mass murderer, wow… what, does that give you extra points on the score meter if you-"

"KAGOME IS ANYTHING BUT A MURDERER!" Koika screamed at her, having found her voice. "SINCE WHEN HAVE YOU-"

"Stuff it bimbo. What, that bleach burn your brain?" Ayame only glared at the stunned Koika. "Probably runs in the family, though. Making slutty decisions like that. You probably didn't have a brain in the first place: just a slut to the core."

"**HEY!**" Koga yelled at her angrily, stepping in front of Koika slightly. "**YELL AT ME, NOT HER, AYAME!**"

"Oh please, she won't even know what I'm talking about she's so stupid." She said loudly so that Koika could hear over her own tears.

Sango looked back at Miroku to see if he was going to do something, but he was a little tied up: he was pushing Inuyasha against a wall with all his might to keep the half demon from clobbering Aya's big mouth.

"So you to this much just to find your little pussy-cat, neh? What, was I just supposed to put out or something to you? I mean shit, Koga, you already have two other cats from the looks of it, leave some for the other guys," Ayame's words were bitterly disgusting in tone.

As Sango dropped her mouth in anger, a white blur flew by her face. She blinked, only to find Inuyasha gripping Aya desperately close to her throat, a few centimeters off the ground.

"Ayame, you'd better shut up before I kill you." Inuyasha growled so darkly that it sent shivers down her spine. "Believe that propaganda if you want, but don't you DARE say anything like that again in my presence. Clear?!"

Ayame looked at him sourly.

"Shake your head yes or no…" He said with gritted teeth.

Ayame glared over Koga for a moment. He met her eyes with equal distrust and anger.

She cocked her head to the side and muttered one word softly. "Fine."

Inuyasha dropped her to the ground heaving, turning on his heel sharply. He started walking briskly in the way of the lumpy mountain near their target, since he couldn't run with all of the people blocking the sidewalk.

Ayame looked up from her place on the ground to Sango. They only exchanged a forceful glare before the later moved on, the rest of their search party following suit with equal speed.

_I can't believe I was friends with her…_ Sango thought to herself, reaching the curb and waiting for the cars to stop zooming by so she and the others could pass safely. _After all that we all went through together… she actually turned against Kagome just because of something so obviously impossible?… I know we had to point it out to Inuyasha, but he'd dense and stubborn… Aya…_ She looked back over her shoulder. _What happened to you-_

Sango's mouth dipped open slightly as the crosswalk light turned green.

Ayame was talking to several police officers and government guards. Then she pointed right at Sango and the others, turning her head to glare with a cruel satisfaction.

The other policemen and such whipped their heads around to stare at the group. "ORDER OF THE POLICE! STOP THE PEOPLE AT THE CROSSWALK! STOP THEM NOW!"

Koika stopped to look around, but Sango shoved her in the back. "**_RUN! RUN!_**"

She didn't stop to wait for the others. If they didn't hear her, they'd find out in a moment about it. Sango bolted across the crosswalk and down the sidewalk, her heart pounding so hard she thought it might drop into her belly. She jumped over a parked bicycle, landing on her knees and hands, but she jumped up and kept running.

She looked over her shoulder to see if the others had gotten the message, and was greeted by Miroku's running self to the right of her, Koika on Koga's back to the left. Inuyasha was a little behind them, but he was jumping high into the sky to get closer. Far behind them she saw Ayame getting shoved by a policeman onto the ground.

"LIVE AMMO!" they heard behind them. A thunderous shot exploded into their ears behind them, the glass shop window next to Miroku blasting into pieces. Instantly the other people on the sidewalk began running and screaming, one of them making the mistake to go out into the street. The woman didn't even get a chance to scream as she was struck by a tramcar.

"GO STRAIGHT!" Sango yelled, her voice cracking in terror. Inuyasha jumped down to them and grabbed hold of Miroku and Sango by the waist, breaking into a demonic sprint. The room opening up on the sidewalk gave Koga enough room to do the same, both the demonic kin tearing down the cement

Two more bullet shots rang in their ears as they went another block. Koika looked over her shoulder, yelping as she watched several guards getting onto Syukuchis and revving them up, two which were already starting down the road. "**FASTER! THEY'VE GOT MOTORS!**"

"I CAN'T GO ANY FASTER THAN THIS!" Koga yelled back angrily.

One Syukuchi, on block away. Four more coming.

"SANGO, WE CAN'T RUN! WHERE DO WE HIDE!?" Koika screamed.

"WHA-" Sango shifted to look at her friend, but instead caught sight of a guard aiming right at her head with a gun, his Syukuchi barely staying stable. "**GYAAAAAAAAAAA!**"

He fired the gun, his transportation loosing balance and falling over immediately after.

Inuyasha flew forward, flipping several times before skidding to a halt. He growled/groaned, gripping the right side of his back, hissing as his fingers became liquid red.

Miroku picked himself off the ground. "INUYASHA!?"

Sango groaned as she looked up. Koga and Koika had stopped and were looking back at the three.

The half demon didn't make an audible sound, only growling and weak crying as he groped his side.

Miroku looked up and saw the Guard who shot his roommate getting up off the ground, with several other police men and guards driving cars and Syukuchis catching up. Miroku grabbed one and pushed himself up, Sango soon following suit and taking up the other side. She took off down the side walk, but then turned down a to the left at the nearby intersection. "THIS WAY!" she yelled at Koika and Koga, who then followed after them.

Sango tossed her head to the right, starting off in a diagonal across the street, her legs beginning to weak from the extra load. Sweat tinkered against her eyelids as they got to the other side walk, joining up with Koga and his load. Koika jumped off his back and helped get Inuyasha on, just as the cars and Syukuchis began to screech as they turned, alarms blaring, speeding down the road.

Sango began sprinting again, heading forward past the first building on the street, then turning down into the alleyway. The others behind her followed suit, going single file down the way, the sounds of burning tires screeching to a stop echoing from the street.

Sango turned to the left as they got to end of the alley and to another, the group following. The new pathway between buildings was much darker then the others, some little bits of unmelted snow surviving like small colonies in the cool shadows. Her breath went heavy halfway down the distance of the next building, but the sounds of guards entering the back building corridors only made her go faster. She turned to the right as they got to the next building, a bullet shot firing behind them. A bit of the cement of the building exploded behind her.

She an down the small alley, coming out to the sidewalk of another street. She did a quick check in her mind of where she was before signaling to Koga and Miroku to go down the alleyway between the third and fourth buildings on the next row, she and Koika heading towards the crevice between the third and second. Sango looked over her shoulder as Koika and she entered the darkness of the next alleyway, seeing their stalkers turning down the alleyway to the street they just crossed. But she also say Koika with a open, bleeding gash from the middle of her cheek up to just above her eyebrow.

She didn't stop to ask. That would be something to do later.

Sango docked a left when they got to the back corridor, only to come face to face with a brand new chain link fence. "That's not supposed to be there!"

"Just climb!" Koika yelled, latching onto the metal finger holds and heading up. Sango did the same, and in a few moments they were at the top.

But as they started to descend, several police came through the alleyway and met them on the other side of the fence.

Both women jumped and rolled to land, several gunshots sounding beyond the metal gate. They dodged up against the side of one of the buildings, right next to an aluminum dumpster.

"Two, three, four-" Koika mumbled to herself.

"What-"

"There are six rounds in a gun round thing. We just have to wait for them to reload."

After a moment the gun shots stopped, but the chain-link fence began creaking, so Sango and Koika bolted down the little bit of distance and turned to the right, entering another alley that went to the street. They saw Koga, his load, and Miroku on the other side, looking at Sango anxiously. She pointed forward and held up a one, left and a four, and then a right and two. Miroku and his group vanished between buildings as Koika and Sango headed across the street, both of their lungs burning in pain.

They got into the next alleyway. As they turned to the left and headed down that way, Sango looked back to the way they just went, only to see several guards coming out of the alley and onto the street, staring right at her. Sango turned around and bolted to the right side of the alleyway instead of the left.

"What is-" Koika began, but Sango cut her off.

"Follow Miroku and Koga! I'll catch up!" And they both sprinted down their respective ways.

Sango knew what she was doing. If they saw her, the apparent ring leader, going this way, they'd follow her, and ignore the other direction. This was one of the few times she liked people who made assumptions.

She made it down that buildings path and turned to the left. Picking up a junked keyboard on the ground, she threw it hard towards the glass office building window a few meters from her. It shattered open a few moments before she got there, giving her a small second opening to jump through without getting struck by falling shard of glass. _The police should hear that one_…

The several business people who had occupied that hallway backed up against the wall in terror as the estranged, sweaty college girl came in and bolted down the way to the left, listening to the police who were only entering the alley as she tore down the next hallway towards a large, bright, open room.

Anyone who lived Hakodate knew would know about this place. It was the Kushigi-Honda office building that was built a few years back. With a small art exhibit that spiraled up around the main entrance plaza, most inhabitants had come to see it all. As had Sango when she was in high school. But now as she started up the spiraling ramp, it was much less artistically pleasurable.

When the guards got onto the ground floor plaza, she was already heading up to the second. She heard her followers coming after her up the slope, though another one was yelling at the front receptionists to lock down the building. All exits and entrances.

But Sango wasn't heading for a door.

She kept running until she got to the third floor, then turning to the right and then left down a corporate hallway. _It was 3-Ya-Go 18... Ah, there it is!_

She turned to the left at the end of the hallway, and ran past the offices 3-Ya-Go-16 and 17 before arriving at her fathers old office and ramming up against the door. The man inside shrieked (like a little girl) and fell out of his desk chair. Sango, almost wheezing now, picked up a fake plant and chucked it at the window, smashing it quite well. She grabbed two pieces of paper off his desk, crunched them up in both hands, and then went over to the window.

It was a long way down, but the telephone wire was right there. For a moment she didn't want to do it; just admit defeat and try to get out of the building as fast as possible. But then her heart won over her mind, and she jumped, hands outstretched.

She swung a moment or two on the telephone wire, the paper making some interesting noises, before using the swinging momentum and flying across to land with a thud on a house roof. The ceramic tiles shattered where she landed, and Sango was fairly certain that something inside her also had shattered, but she knew she had to get going. She could see it in the distance.

She ran up the roof slope, then down the other side. _1._

She jumped onto the next one, thankful it was fairly close. She ran up and down that one. _2_

Upon getting onto the third roof, Sango heard the raging shouts of the police and guards beyond her in the office building. She went across the tiles. _3_.

She got across the next one, with one gun shot ringing behind her, the bullet blowing up a circuit breaker a half dozen meters to her left. _4._

She was almost there. _Hey, Miroku and the others are right there, on the third floor! And 5!_

Sango bolted across the last roof and made a flying leap at the end, landing with an off, her torso sprawled over the parking garage cement barrier. As the others, already inside, ran over to her, she pulled herself up and over the barricade. "One more floor," she said breathlessly. "to the left."

They jogged up as best they could up the next level, and turned to the left. Sango went over to the steel wall blocker and hit several numbers on a small number security board on the left side of it. The entire wall gave a metallic groan before opening up slowly. All five ducked inside of the dark area. Sango turned around and hit a small red light on the wall, and the metallic door stopped moving. With another push of the button it headed back down and locked in place once more.

"Where… are we…" Koga asked hoarsely, sitting down with a thump, Inuyasha sliding off his back.

"Executive weekend… parking…" Sango said, sliding down against the wall. " For… Mohi Mochi Company…" She took a few moments to gather herself before crawling over to Inuyasha. In the dim light of the garage, it was hard to see his wound, but she reached out and tried to touch it. "How is it, Inuyasha?"

He groaned before speaking. "Healing…"

She squinted her eyes, her pupils dilating. Indeed, the bullet wound was already clotting.

"I think…" she said weakly, listening to the others heavy panting. "We can head back out… in early morning… like three o'clock…"

"How far…" Inuyasha muttered.

"Hm?" Sango looked down at him. "Wha…?"

"The church… how far…"

"Maybe… a dozen kilometers…?"

"Kay…"

* * *

Whew, I'm tired now too. I just wrote eight pages in six minutes!

(sorry about bad proofing again. I had to get this done in only a little time, since I am now back to work in school)


	24. April Fourth

-A/N- It comes full circle now. Check the date below.

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 24

April Fourth

* * *

Monday, April fourth, 9:04 AM

Hakodate, Japan

Motomachi area

The heavy silence that hung in the dawn air seemed to grip Sango's lungs as she warily looked out from her post beyond a small, wooden house at the row of churches at the foot of Mount Hakodate. The orthodox and it's neighbor, the Anglican church of Japan, were both heavily guarded by police and national guards. _That's impossible…_ She thought quietly in her mind, slinking back into the shadows. _We'll never be able to get into the church like it is…_

Once sure she was out of sight, she sprang up to her feet and hastily made her way back to the others. Sango dodged around a backyard fence, keeping her head low while running. Once she got to the other end Sango slowed and stopped herself, crouching down on the ground and sliding around the corner to the rest of the group.

"Well?" Inuyasha asked in an angry whisper. Out of all of them there, he was the one most likely to simply bolt out there to the church and tear the place apart. Deep inside his gut, where the true intentions of his soul stirred, he had the unchallenged notion that any harm to Kagome was the same to him, and he'd give it back to those who dealt it. But… if she was dead… he didn't know what would happen. Only that it wasn't good.

Sango shook her head. "Both the Orthodox and Anglican are guarded. I know the police looked a little tired, but that wouldn't stop them from using guns in a heart beat- Inuyasha, don't you dare say that bullet won't hurt you; you're lucky that bit in you yesterday healed over already!"

"Shut up, Sango." He said icily. Miroku gave him an even colder glare, but let the half demon continue. "If there isn't anything else, then we'll just go right in there and rip them apart until they only have bones left."

Koika gave a shudder.

"Oi, didn't you hear me?" Sango hissed at him, yanking a bit of his hair in her hand. "Guns are bad. They kill. Us, to be precise. You didn't let me finish what I was saying, anyway!"

He growled but held his tongue, having learnt from his previous mistakes over the past few days.

"In the Motomachi area, there are _three_ major churches, not two. The Catholic church… I couldn't get a really good look, but I don't think there is anyone guarding it at all. Since its back garden goes right up to the Orthodox and Anglican gardens, we should be able to at least get closer to it from there, okay?"

"Take us, then." Inuyasha ordered.

* * *

9:07 AM

Orthodox Church of Japan

She was shaking from pain, cold, hunger, despair, wheeze, thirst; anything and everything that could be torture and malice was, and the physical evidence was all over Kagome. Assuming her mind was working normally, she might have realized that decreasing her food intake over the past few months, because of all the stress she'd been under, was a bad idea: for now, she was noticeably thinner and ice cold. However, it was from this lack of energy intake, lack of extra fat on hand, and little of muscle for energy that she could not think straight in the first place, so it mattered little.

Everything was a cold ,dark, murky lull, as if a pillow had been shoved into her head. It was a horrible pain in itself, _But… at least I can't… feel a lot more of the… others… other pains… tha pain…_

Her dark eyes jerkily looked down at her feet, at the dried stomach acid. Her shoes were barely hanging on her feet, since they were mostly gone now, along with her socks, eaten away by chemical reaction. Her feet looked very bumpy, from what her eyes told her.

A small flitter of light began to peek into the dark room through a window. Kagome tilted her head back, weakly moaning, hoping the light would hear her prayer. "…N…. no…pl…plea…n-ppleas-"

The back door slammed open. She heard **her** dark, heavy, encroaching foot steps coming closer to her. Behind **hers**, **he** was slowly making his way in, not as heavy, but much more dark.

The light shown on Kagome's pale, yellow face. Her eyes zoomed in on the window like an insect flittering toward the light, hoping for freedom, knowing their demise.

"Shit, it turned off again! Steppy!" **She **said in a hiss. Kagome couldn't see her. She was too entranced with the light, the hope, the music in her mind.

"What?! God, damn these water pipes."

Kagome heard **his** quick footsteps. **He **stopped. She heard a squeak.

Above her, a tiny drop of ice cold water lividly dropped down against the top of her head.

It struck.

"NOOOOO-IIIEEE!!….no…n… he…guh… o…"

Another fell.

"GAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!…YAIIIEEII!!…"

"Silence in front of those holy." She heard. **She** gripped Kagome's head back to look at the drop above her. It grew. Fattened. …_No…_Impeding. Any second. Any second now. It'll drop again. Again. Again. …_No… please… Buddha, why am I forsaken…? Please… help-_

It fell.

"GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!"

**He** was coming closer as **she** clinched Kagome's jaw. For a moment, she tried to resist, but **she** grew angry and pried open Kagome's mouth. A small, white pill fell down into her mouth, forced down into her dry, empty stomach by gravity.

Another water droplet struck her sopping forehead.

"GYULUUUUUH!!!"

"…And to give you a head start…" **She** raised up Kagome's shirt, revealing her mutilated stomach, red and blistered in an area about the size of a Frisbee, but dark purple and blue in one small spot. Kagome felt a sticker get placed on that spot. She wriggled a bit, but another drop of torturous water sent her again into screaming.

**She** pulled a plastic trigger.

Kagome felt the surge of electricity zap her belly, stomach, lungs, entire insides. It screeched up into her head and down to her toes, convulsing her stomach into vomiting once again. Her head flipped back down to look at her strikers as the pure acid shot out of her mouth.

Both of **them,** Steppy and Valentina, looked at her with disgusting satisfaction.

"Oh, blood this time!" **She **said. "That's a good sign of the Shikon coming out, right?"

" Yes, a very good sign. I guess the ulcer took a while to develop."

"Thank the Lord for this joyous event."

"Indeed, sister, thank the great Lord." **He **stepped closer to Kagome, wailing again from another water droplet falling down upon the crown of her head.

**He** got closer, stepping up on the altar to get to her. **He** put his mouth right next to her ear. "You're not thanking god… Are you thanking him? His divine judgment has been given to you, and you don't rejoice?"

Another blob of water hit her. Kagome once again screamed, her stomach giving another lurch.

**He** grabbed the back of her head, yanking at her hair to keep her head upright against the cold metal behind it. "Are you thanking him? Thank the great lord, Higurashi. He gave you to give to me his divine tool. Thank god, Higurashi."

Another drop. Another scream.

"THANK THE LORD, KAGOME! THANK HIM! THANK HIM NOW!"

"Thank him…" **She** said contently.

"THANK GOD! BUDDHA IS NOTHING BUT THE DEVIL! REPENT TO THE LORD, AND THANK HIM! THANK HIM FOR HIS DIVINE JUDGEMENT TO THE DEMONS, DAMN THEM ALL TO HELL! HE DAMNS THEM ALL!" **He **got even closer as he began to whisper. "They'll all burn in hell, thanks to you, thanks to him. His great tool to speak of his will, is within you, Kagome. Surrender your sins to him."

Another drop. "_GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIYAAAA!"_

"Surrender to him, to his wants. God needs me to speak his will to clear the world of sin. Of demons. Thank the lord, Higurashi. Thank your father. He is the father of all of us."

"Thank our father." **she **said with enthusiasm.

"Thank him. Thank the father." **He **said.

"THANK HIM!!! DAMN THE DEMONS!!! DO HIS WILL!!! REPENT, AND FOLLOW OUR GOD!" **She **screamed at her.

"Thank your father, Kagome Higurashi. Thank the lord for his virtuous actions against the evils of the world." **He **said.

Kagome vomited again, but it only coughed out of her mouth, sliding down her flesh and scalding it with acid and blood. Another water droplet fell, making her give a gurgle of a scream.

* * *

9:12 AM

Motomachi area

He had heard her, Inuyasha was sure of it. He knew he'd heard Kagome screaming. It had to be. "She's here…" He called to the others as loudly as they might allow.

"What…?" Sango whisper yelled back, looking back at him from her eye spot of the Catholic church.

"I heard Kagome scream." He called back, his voice even and restrained though his face was boiling with livid rage. He could smell her blood.

"The mutt's right - I can smell her." Koga whispered to Sango. "Real fresh, too. She's-"

"Wolf, don't talk about Kagome like she's a piece of meat!" Inuyasha hissed at him. Koga simply ignored the insult and kept speaking. He had more important things to do than bicker. "- definitely in the area." He finished.

"Okay…" Sango nodded, turning back to look at the church across the street. It wasn't very far to run: at the most, maybe thirty meters. But if they were seen by anyone… Sango supposed that what happened to Yuka would be done to them ten fold. And there were so many eyes to try and track, finding the right time to run was-

A small motorcade appeared on the opposite side of the block, the car flying a (very small) French and (a rather large) Japanese flags on the front hood. All the guards and police looked towards it. "NOW!" Sango hissed behind her, bolting off as fast as her legs had ever gone towards the catholic church. Across the cracking pavement, she looked at the officers, still looking at the arriving French Prime minister and company. Halfway across the front lawn she looked through the barren bushes and trees at the guards, who were still looking away. Upon getting up to the front of the church and pinning herself to the inside of the front doorway, she looked to where she had just traveled, watching the rest of the group jump up the stairs and hide behind the interior wall. Sango paused for a moment to listen to the activities ensuing beyond.

"Welcome, Jules-Serge Brunet, to the…" The slamming of doors overthrew the words being spoken by… someone. _That voice, though… it sounds really familiar…_

She looked back to the others. Miroku and Koika were working on opening the door, but both Inuyasha and Koga were covering their noses, doing their best not to cough. Sango looked at the two burly demon men in wonder. "What is it?"

Koga held his face a little harder while suppressing another cough. Inuyasha pointed to the door.

There was a fairly thick sounding thunk inside as Miroku and Koika pressed opposite sides and ends of the… rather peculiar door handle. "Okay, here we- what the crap?!" Miroku whispered at first before coughing strongly. Koika covered her mouth as she did the same, and Sango brought her cardigan over her nose and mouth as a filter. The choking gas spewed out from the cracks of the door, rising up into the air as a translucent white smoke, then dissipating into nothingness.

Miroku coughed hard against his throat, then opening one of his teary eyes. "Ah-monya!" he hacked.

Sango only looked at him, staying at her position against the side of the entrance.

He raised his arm to point inside, finally getting his jacket up and over his mouth. "Ammonia!" he hissed once more.

Sango looked inside the church.

There must have been at least three dozen decomposing corpses. Most were in or strewn over the aisles, the remnants of their flesh a putrid brown and black and green. However, a few bodies were up near the altar of the congregational hall, appearing to be the remains of the clergy. There were also some bodies piled up against the back door, their bloody claw marks tattooed against the wooden grain.

Sango could barely take looking at the site. In the past she might have thought that if she had seen something like this, she'd be able to keep her cool and muddle through it; after all, she had done so in biology dissecting. But in reality, now that she faced… _this…_

Sango moved back against the entrance ways' walls. And from the look Koika was giving her, the girl had also seen the source of the gas.

"It was the wrong church…" Koika whispered shakily to herself, hugging her shirt up over her mouth. "The monk… it was the catholic one…

Inuyasha silently made his way down the stairs, turning right and heading around that side of the church, ducking below the cover of the lifeless shrubs. _No way I'm going into that place… just the orthodox church, that's where I need to go… that's all…_ At first he was all alone in his relocating, but given a few moments he heard the others one by one head off in his pursuit.

He turned to the right around another corner of the building, stopping just in time to stay behind the last of the shrubs. From where he was, he could see the back of the Orthodox church, with the back door no longer boarded up. At that very moment his legs exploded with rage and blasted for the church, but Koga and Koika caught him just in time. "LET GO OFMMPF-!"

Koika slapped her hand over his mouth. "Would you shut up?!" She hissed back, looking over the shrub tops. The back gardens of the Orthodox church, Anglican church, and Catholic church were all right next to each other, the Catholic and Anglican sporting a few small grave stones. However, police and national guards were posted all over all of the green-spaces. If the half demon had gone forth like he intended, the only thing guaranteed to him would be death; all of the government officers were heavily armed.

And so they sat and waited in disgusted patience. Sango's eyes flicked back and forth, watching officers go to and fro, seemingly surrounding the entire Anglican Church.

"Isn't…" Koika whispered, looking at the other female present. "Isn't today the day the French Prime Minister is supposed to be here?"

Sango thought back in her memory, but couldn't bring anything to mind about the visiting Frenchman. She shook her head and looked at Koika with confusion.

"When I was in there," Koika pointed to the guarded church. "A monk said that on the fourth -today- Jules-Serge Brunet is supposed to be coming here to visit the grave of his ancestor or something, then go on an official tour of the city for… either the E.U. or U.N."

Sango canted her head. "Brunet…?"

The back doors of the Anglican Church of Japan heaved open, a tall, amber haired man stepping out onto the outside platform. He was accompanied by a two other people, one a brown haired woman, the other a blonde man. Along with them were a good many guards and police, along with several journalists and camera-bots. They all stayed either on the platform or went down to the grassy knoll at the bottom of the steps, waiting outside the iron gates of the small cemetery.

"I guess that's the French Prime Minister…" Koika whispered, pointing to the first tall westerner who had come out of the place of worship.

"Yeah, I guess-" Sango began, but then Koika interrupted.

"Wait, he's French! What the hell is he doing at an Anglican Church?!"

"Huh?" Miroku, and the others, were rather confused.

Koika restrained from slapping her forehead. "The Anglican church is the church of ENGLAND, not France! French Christianity is mainly catholic!" she turned to Sango. "You sure that's the Anglican church? I know I talked to the monk, but he didn't really respond greatly when I told him about- uh, about-" She stumbled in her words badly. Koika glanced at Koga for a moment nervously, as if debating if she should speak. He only glanced back, just as interested in inquiry as the others.

"…that I'm an Anglican Christian…" She said, a defeated sigh following.

Inuyasha's eyebrows raised for a moment, but returned to their previous frown. Miroku and the others spent a little more time in shock. "You are?!" He asked quietly. "I'd never have gues-"

"Shut up; talk later!" Koika interjected, eyes fixed to the back of the church of England (in Japan). "Up there at the rail; it's Prime minister Zusayama!"

"What?!" Sango looked over that way, and found herself looking at the middle aged, stern looking Japanese politician, the spearhead of all of the governments' actions for the past six years. Including the last six months.

At the bottom, Jules-Serge looked up at Zusayama with unease. Then the Frenchman looked back one of his advisors of something. "Qu'est-ce Que tu pense?"

"Je ne sais pas." She said in return, apparently just as uneasy.

Koika looked at Miroku. "You know what they said?"

He looked at her, baffled. "Why should I know? I study military tactics, not western languages. It's all French to me."

Zusayama waived his hand at some guards before making his way down the stairs on the opposite side of Brunet. The terrified priest of the church hurried down the stairs as well, running over to the gate to the cemetery, keys jingling.

The Japanese and French Prime ministers came together and began conversing, just loud enough for Inuyasha and the group to hear.

"The priest certainly has had his coffee today, how fast he runs." Zusayama said, his deep, icy voice seeming to make the earth beneath them all quiver with anxiety and intimidation.

"That indeed. He seems very lively…" Jules-Serge answered, following the path of the quick Christian towards the cemetery.

"Looks like he knows Japanese fairly well." Koga whispered.

"Brunet's great grandfather!" Sango exclaimed, carefully keeping her voice down.

The others looked at her, except for the half demon, who was a little more intimate with trying to glare the back wall of the Orthodox Church into rubble.

"I knew I'd heard that last name! Jules Brunet was the name of a French commander who helped the Ezo rebels here in Hokkaido during the Boshin Civil War! I bet you anything that Jules-Serge is the great-grandson of Jules!"

Koga looked back at the French politician. "Okay, what does that have to do with-"

"Jules Brunet didn't die during the war!" Sango interrupted, her voice slowly getting louder. "He left after the war and lived out the rest of his life in Paris, or somewhere in France at the least."

Jules-Serge and Zusayama were both in the cemetery now, with the camera- bots floating around, snapping pictures and recording video. Behind them, on the cement platform of the Anglican church, it sounded like a large amount of people were going through the room that lead to the outside.

Sango looked at the Frenchman. "There's no way his great-grandfather is here, or anyone else related to him."

From the church, about a dozen demons were shoved out onto the platform at gunpoint, gagged, and obviously brutalized. Several guards and police rushed up to them, forcing an antiquated gun in their hands while keeping a modern gun barrel pointed at each of the demons' temples.

"It's a tra-" Sango jumped up from behind the shrubs. For a split second, terror grounded her and her jaw from moving, squeezing the life out of her lungs like a boa constrictor. But then she knew what she had to do, and that she was going to do it; save more than one life. Save many. With all her might she screamed "**_BRUNET, RUN! BEHIND YOU!!_**"

Miroku grabbed a hold of Sango as he and the rest ran back around the side of the catholic church.

Brunet whipped his head around at the sound, but then kept going to look at the Anglican church. The several demons there were now being un-gagged and forced into the cemetery, with guns still pointed at their heads. His advisors and other personnel had been cornered off to the bottom of the cement platform, each at gun point, terror in their eyes. He turned around to look at the Prime minister of Japan, and found himself also eye to eye with a small hand gun barrel. "Hands out to the sides and start walking backwards slowly." Zusayama ordered, his face livid, but also apathetic.

Jules hesitated, taking a swallow of his saliva, staring at the metal weapon.

The Japanese Prime minister glared at the westerner with a animalistic rage while guards and police around him jumped the cemetery fence and headed for those who had risen the alarm.

"**_MOVE, INFIDEL!_**" Zusayama bellowed like lion's roar.

Jules slowly brought his hands up, but didn't move his feet, for they were slightly stuck in the boggy mud of the ground; snow melt water had to go somewhere.

Zusayama growled. "CAPTAIN HOSHIDO! EXECUTE NUMBER ONE!"

A short round of bullets resonated in the air, followed immediately by numerous screams from both the western personnel and the captive demons. Jules dared to look behind him, only to watch the blonde haired advisor of his crumple to the ground, decapitated by the sword-like gun fire.

Jules-Serge didn't hide his fear. He flat out yelped before getting shoved by the Japanese politician holding a gun to his head. "Move backwards."

He slowly did, noticing the hovering camera-bots circling around him like hawks.

--

Inuyasha had had it with running. Screw it all. Running was for cowards. He'd take on all of the guards coming after them, even alone. His boiling blood was seeking his enemy's blood dearly. His demon side was seeking it.

Another round of bullets rang out after the group, prompting Koika to scream. They were moving in diagonals now, all of them just trying to not get shot.

They got to the end of the church and banked left to get to the entrance.

It appeared that the ammonia had dissipated from the church since the rest of the group headed inside, except for Inuyasha. He had stopped at the stairs. Koga looked back at the half demon, ready to shout at him to run.

Inuyasha was flexing the muscles of his back, from what Koga could see. His ears were longer. His claws were growing longer and sharper with each moment. The white hair from his head rustled and seemed to enlarge, as did most of the rest of his body slightly. Koga sniffed the air, and could only smell dog demon.

Inuyasha turned his head to look at the wolf. The whites of his eyes were red, irises blue, pupils white. Purple marks had grown under his eyes and around his wrists. He gave a malicious growl, in the tone that could only be understood by demonic canines:

_"Blood."_ Koga heard in the growl.

Inuyasha jumped up on the star rail and kicked off so strong that the metal was blasted clear out of the cement casting. A moment later, the wolf heard a few guns fire, a few quick male yelps, and then gruesome sounds of bodies getting ripped apart.

Koga looked at the hairs on the back of his forearm, each one bristling in the air, strengthened by the recent inclusion of hyper-adrenaline hormones in his blood. "Me too, then." He said to himself, feeling the wolf hair of his true form sprouting from his back and chest.

Miroku stopped at the back of the church, desperately trying to not look down at the rotting bodies he had stepped on/in, then looking back at the entrance to see if the guards were coming. Instead he saw Koga silhouetted in black against the morning light pouring in from the entrance. He hunched over, gripping his chest, which was steadily growing larger. The dark-haired human watched in awe and wonder as Koga's clothing ripped and then blasted off of him as his skeleton mutated, muscles rippled in new places and ways, and heavy fur carpeted his flesh. Then Koga's hair tie and bandana snapped simultaneously. The leather and plastic and cloth of his shoes finally tore and broke, as his feet lengthened out. Then the socks shredded like confetti as he fell down to all fours, spine re-arching itself. His finger flesh 'melted' and fused together, forming paws. His little toes shrank and moved up his foot next to his rising ankle. His feet were forged in to paws then. Finally, the wolf demon grew larger and larger, from being only a meter tall to two meters, then three, four, stopping at over five meters in height from his paws to his shoulders.

This was the true Koga, the true wolf demon that was housed inside. All demons could do this, but almost no one had ever seen it happen, let alone biologically explain it. Miroku, who was now joined by Koika and Sango, gaped in awe.

The massive, brown and black haired wolf demon with the white sof his eyes black, irises red orange, and pupils white, howled so greatly that the church shook, though it was a cross between a howl and roar in reality.

And then Koga ran out.

Koika ran after him. Sango followed her, who was followed by Miroku.

In the garden, a few of the armed demons were now standing next to the French prime minister, who shuddered at the blood curdling canine scream. The demoness up at front, closest to him, a young demon-woman with red hair, green eyes, and bruised skin raised her head to the howl. "Koga…" The demoness named Ayame said to herself, almost to scared to hope.

"You," Zusayama pointed his gun at her head, though he was safely out of the binding eyes of the camera-bots. "Smile, laugh, then shoot him."

The muscles in Ayame's neck went rigid, her face dripping with terror. "…I-"

"SHOOT HIM!"

"NO! YOU'LL KILL US ALL ANYWA-"

Zusayama fired his gun. The bullet went straight into Aya's left eye, and she dropped to the ground. The Japanese prime minister, unswayed by the terrorized screams from the captives, or the deadly sounds of savage, animal attack from beyond the Catholic church, smiled as a few police shot rounds into the lifeless body of the demoness.

"Don't waste bullets on a demon, idiots." He said, though smirking. "Bring up-"

"Oh virgin Mary," Brunet whispered to himself. "That woman… I, you… murderer!"

The Japanese Prime minister moved to strike the Frenchman in the back of the head, but only stopped himself from hitting him very hard: Jules-Serge got the equivalent of a metallic head slap.

"Fuck, you infidel! Get the next demon up here! Get this bastard shot already!"

Upon this order, another demon, a young man no older than twelve at best was brought forth, still at far gun point.

Twas then that the enraged half-demon, his demonic blood in full control and brooding for mortal death, skidded out into the garden from behind the Catholic church's opposing wall. Droplets of crimson liquid spattered from where he stood, the blood flying off him by the abrupt stop in movement. They dotted across the parched ground like stars in the sky at dusk.

There were several screams then, followed by shouts of orders and war as the young man walked forward, steadily picking up pace.

Zusayama moved his aim from the petrified demon boy to the rampant half-blood heading in his direction. "KILL HIM!"

Bullets flared and shot through the air. To the half-demon's mind it was all slow and predictable: slice that shell, duck from that other one, strike down this round, skewer a few. His senses were precise and fast to the picosecond, for in such a state of wariness, nothing can possibly get by the mental power of seventy super computers.

It was all a blur to the guards who shot at him, in context of his speed. He was only a blur, droplets of blood soaring out all over, striking people and graves.

But all shook when the full wolf demon landed hard against the ground, crushing a police officer in his wake. Koga glanced at the half-demon and thought - though his thoughts were not fully comprehensible, for wolf speak was based on tone and intended meaning, not empty shells for words '_That fool- using up his energy so fast, so reckless.'_

Zusayama sneered, in both rage and fear. Fear that his plan was not working. Quickly he shot Jules-Serge in the left leg, sending the westerner down to the ground wailing. "**KILL THEM ALL! ALL OF THE INFIDELS, ALL THE DEMONS! KILL THEM NOW!**"

It was war now.

Most of the captives ducked in terror by instinct, but some were not quick enough, and were taken apart by the volley. As Koika, Sango, and Miroku came around the side of the Church, Koga lifted his right back leg and kicked them back forcefully, sending them flying backwards, tumbling over and over the dead earth, the blue, cloudless sky their only observer, for the wolf demon returned his attention to battle. '_They shall not die here_'

Koika was the first to regain both breath and orientation, though still heaving. "What… does he think… he's doing?! Tying to be… mister hero!?" She stood up swiftly (then taking a moment to get her brain back into un-dizzying order), and then grabbed one of the iron poles remaining from the stair well Inuyasha had destroyed laying next to her. And she took off.

Sango quickly regained her voice next. "KOIKA!… WHA- STOP!"

"SORRY; I'D RATHER BE WITH HIM THAN BE ALONE!" she cried back, raging after Koga, picking up a few more poles on her way.

Miroku didn't understand that well immediately, but Sango did: better die with him than survive alone. Perhaps it was a foolish act for a sense of belonging that had only barely blossomed. But what did Sango know in the end? Maybe Koika really was that passionate about the demon for the end.

Her boyfriend looked over at her. "I vote… we bypass the… guns and get Kagome."

"Yeah," Sango nodded, picking him up and off the ground, both heading around the street for the forward way to get to the Orthodox church.

In Inuyasha's soul (not his mind: it was too preoccupied with attacking and killing), He felt an eerie presence, as if being watched. And then the words flowed in.

_Failing. I am failing._

_No, I'm not failing! I won't fail her! I wont!_

Kagome could barely recognize the sounds of happenings outside, for her body and mind were screaming in torturous pain and insanity, as the water dropped, as **she** struck and shocked and twisted, and as **he** kept shouting and screaming, as if the louder he went the more his god could hear him. But it wasn' t what that god wanted, her soul felt. _It's not what any god, if there was one, would desire at all!_

_Flailing. I am flailing._

_No, I'm not flailing from what I was set out to do, to be! Fate chose it for me! And I followed._

Inuyasha's soul was burning mad, as the words etched deeper and deeper into his skull, and his body was beginning to slow because of it.

_In the mountain of steel and cement,_

_Yes, the church, I know! Shut up and let me get there!_

Kagome felt the acid rising, pouring now, eating away her voice. Even in her tears now, her vocal chords only gave a weak gurgle.

_In the temple of warring peace and lament,_

_This place was meant for that, and so is the garden, the cemetery. But the only ones Lamenting are me and the other victims!_

Inuyasha felt his head for a micro second after he finished another police-guard off.

_I flail, for I failed._

_I ain't flailing- no, not me. WE are flailing! The person is flailing! And Failing!_

Kagome felt the searing shock once more surge through her body.

_I fail, for I flailed._

_We failed to learn from our history, mistakes! To learn about others, understanding others, all of it! **That'**s why we're flailing at the edge of existence, close to blowing up the planet!_

And now their thoughts, two halves of the same whole, circling though not complete, melded into one.

_I ask your name, you ask mine._

_I asked his/her name, Inuyasha/Kagome_

_Though you once said that I was swine,_

_I know we fought a lot, and at the start we couldn't stand each other_

_The rising sun is arrowed through,_

_The land of the rising sun, Japan, is bleeding now. Bleeding it's people's blood._

_For setting is all it can now do._

_What rises shall set._

_As long as we want the land to fall_

_As long as people want to destroy another type of people,_

_To flail, to set, to fail, no call,_

_Both will die in the end. Their nation, culture, people, the peace._

_It shall do what is done for our sail._

_Some say it's for the good of all, but it's for them alone._

_Make it fail, make it set, forcing a flail._

_And then the thing they were after falls apart, killing them and everything they attempted, all of their people's hope._

_My koi swims the channel in gray tones,_

_And people run from their homes in terror and sadness, the color taken from their lives,_

_Leaving behind it a trail of white stones._

_And they leave behind them the skeletons of the land they once knew._

_I ask you for help, you ask it from me,_

_But we can do something about it can't we? _

_Not realizing the need is with we._

_Inuyasha/Kagome is the other half of me. _

_All are the guilty and are the slave._

_That's what the world's people need; their opposite to balance them out._

_Too busy to know it with the roaring wave._

_But so many don't want things to get better, because that means changing._

_But the light shall land upon your heart,_

_But if we keep offering compassion instead of hatred, they'll have to comply,_

_Swallowing it like the great dark shark._

_And take responsibility for their actions, and work to make them better._

_Finding you peace and love for the land,_

_Making all people know and work together as the main inhabitants of this one planet,_

_Rising the sun to warm the sand._

_For united is stronger than divided in our only promised land._

With as much focus and power as Inuyasha could allow, he screamed out with all of his body, his mind, and his soul, for the very thing that could make all of this better, that could stop all the wars and the sins and the awful things happening both in the world and his world. "_**KAGOME!**_"

_Inuyasha…_ She saw so much. Her father. Paris. The killings. Her mother and father and her and **him** in the photo. Yuka and her together for the test results when she was five. Cheering Yuka up when she found out the Shikon implant in her failed again for the last time. Going to school for the first time. Reading history. Reading it later to find the school board changed what history was. Refusing the change. Her and Yuka at the anti-prime minister protest when she was fifteen. The both of them screaming and running home from the protest as fire hoses were let loose. Befriending a demon. Studying for high school exams with the demon and Yuka. Finding out her new friend and her family had been murdered in the night. Graduating with Yuka from high school. That first day at Kichinkyo. Meeting and loathing Inuyasha. Meeting Sango. Meeting Rin. Loathing Inuyasha more. Meeting Miroku. Meeting Ayame. Not Loathing Inuyasha as much. Meeting Koga. Meeting Koika. Caring for Inuyasha. Loosing her family. Meeting her father. Befriending Inuyasha. Loosing Yuka. Meeting the truth that had been followed since her birth. Realizing Inuyasha was more than a friend. Meeting the evil that started all of this evil. And then now. It was all leading to this one moment. And she knew that if no one else did, all the people in the world would fall to their own cycle set in motion by ignorance, arrogance, selfishness, and impudence.

Valentina stepped back from the woman she was about to strike, for her stomach was glowing bright pink. Kagome looked down at her torturer with disgust. "You both said you wanted the Shikon no Tama…?"

In a blink of soundless power, the pink of her stomach blew up like a balloon around the three of them, bursting outwards into the outside of the building and the sky. The pink energy swirled around Kagome viciously, like a small, condensed typhoon. All battle in the gardens stopped to look at the sight.

"YOU SPEAK OF YOUR DESIRE TO DESTROY ALL DEMONS, HAVE YOU NOT?" Her voice was powerful and unwavering, in complete confidence and strength.

"Y-YES! DEATH TO ALL OF THE DEMONS! OH GREAT LORD OR HIS SON-" Steppy began, very elated with himself in the thought that now his god had decided to speak to him.

**"SILENCE, HYPOCRIT!"** She screamed back. "YOU DESIRE ALL DEMONS DEAD, SO THAT IS WHAT I SHALL DO FOR YOU! DESTROY ALL OF THE DEMON HEARTED HERE!"

Steppy raised his hands, palms up, as if about to receive a gift from the omnipotent divine. But Valentina saw Kagome's movements correctly. "You Buddhist bitch! Oh no you don't!" The woman jumped up at Higurashi, murderous death and joy spewing from her face. But the very moment their flesh touched, Valentina went limp, a ghostly smoke bubbling from her body as it tumbled down to the altar, landing with a hollow thud and finally resting upon the ground.

"If it is God's will…!" Stepanov said to himself, his eyes closed, a smile and smirk flickering onto his face alternatively.

Kagome's broke the chains that held her to the iron cross, still suspended in the air, for the roof( or it's remnants, anyway) rested on top of the rosy orb of force. She faced him, her eyes glaring right at him. Eventually he looked at her, slightly puzzled. "You said-"

"YOU SHALL DIE, ONE OF THE DEMONIC HEART!" She screamed. The robes Stepanov wore burst into flame, quickly engulfing him in fire. He screamed and wailed, as if a banshee had possessed his throat. And once his hair caught on fire, his body was shot out of the orb like a bullet, striking a nearby tree and 'impaling' the wooden trunk, though the fiery corpse was far from intact. Miroku and Sango, a few meters away, flew backward from the force of the impact.

Kagome turned to look at the gardens, the battle, the wounded, the fallen, with despair and disdain. "AND SAME TO YOU, THOSE OF THE DEMONIC HEART!"

Zusayama grinned and snickered. "Finally, kill them all, why don't-" He stopped because he began to scream.

Fire had burst from his feet, and shot up his legs like it was following gun powder. In the brief moment he wasn't screaming, looking at his legs in horror and batting at the hellfire, He could see the same thing happening to most of his soldiers and guards: only one demon had the fire creep upon him.

And he burst into flame. His skin and skeleton exploded into fiery protrusions. He was still alive though, and he and the others shrieked. From their burning fleshing and fire a white smoke bubbled out, and felt himself falling asleep. He was so very tired now, so much he could not see. All he wanted to do was following the white smoke, follow the light it made in the darkness. All he wanted was sleep. Calm, cool, quite slumber.

And all of those who held the deepest of hatred and deplorable abyss in their heart faded and fell to the ground, nothing more than ashes.

The survivors looked at Kagome in terror, some of them kneeling and praying to whatever they held holy.

Inuyasha stood there, though, his half-human side back in control, staring in awe of his love.

Kagome's face was sullen. The pink faded from her stomach, and then the ball of pink around her faded. The winds vanished. And there she stood, half alive; a tortured rebel of a woman who inspired. Though her knees gave way to gravity, she gave him the best smile she could.

Then the roof started crashing down. Kagome suddenly ducked around, looking for a place to hide from the upper onslaught.

_"Kagome, remember the triangle of life, for you will find life in the void, and death on the border. Your star isn't even near the triangle."_

_Find a sturdy wall, hide at the bottom corner, in a triangle that would be made by it! I wasn't close to death then, but I am now!_ Kagome leaped for the wall behind the altar, the one most stable from looks. She landed, hearing the steel cross snap from it's metallic rope behind her.

_I can't believe it! _She thought, scrambling up to the bottom edge of the wall. _I did it! I actually did it! I beat out the plagues, and-_

She didn't hear Inuyasha scream as she felt icy metal strike against her neck. She felt the most violent pop she'd ever felt, though. And suddenly, she really wanted to sleep. A nice deep sleep, unlike the ones she'd been having in this place before. And she saw a smoky light, like the gas of a supernovae, before her eyes, as the background of the church faded into darkness. All she wanted was sleep, now. A quite, gentle slumber.

Inuyasha, Koga, Koika, Miroku, Sango, and all those who were inspired and spared, watched as their savior was crushed, and died.

* * *

No one escapes a prophecy.

Remember, one more chapter, then the epilogue.


	25. Final Desire

-A/N- Last Chapter. Wow, it's been a long time coming.

* * *

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Chapter 25

Final Desire

* * *

Kagome felt very odd, now, for the light before her faded. She could no longer feel or sense anything tangible. Only pure, raw emotion, un inhibited by words or the brain or anything. It was like she had awakened as something completely different than a human, even though she wasn't sure if she was still sleeping or not.

Maybe she'd roll over in her bed, find her annoying alarm clock had croaked again and that she was late for classes. She'd curse the crap that had been done to her by so many people, but she'd get up and get going anyway.

_Wait…__That's right… I killed them; Steppy, that woman, Zusayama, and so many others… oh my goodness, how dreadful, am I? I killed people! I know they did awful things, but… I just wanted them to stop it so everyone could be happy and peaceful! I didn't want them dead! _

Her thoughts, though, could not truly be translated, for they were not thoughts; they were ebbs and flows of force within her. Words only became apparent later, as she found herself slightly hindered to try and put her feelings into words.

She tried to shift where she was, because she knew she had form. Instead of feeling a limb move a bit, her muscles contort to shift her weight and such, Kagome saw a massive burst of light, like a whip, explode from- well not really left or right or up or down. It was so odd, in that she saw the whip form and vanish from all sides, all angles, an in some part of her mind she couldn't see the burning gas, while in another part the gas was right on top of her 'sight'.

Other than that fire like stream of light, all else was black and dark, hidden in shade.

She was cold on the outside, but very warm on the inside, almost uncomfortably so.

It was the pure existence of loneliness, and yet, the same heightened state of enlightenment. Many a question she had once pondered, for some reason, she now knew the answer was within her, and if given time, her memory would bring that answer up.

A small light grew before her, as if in the distance. Then another on the other side of her, and another perpendicular to the two, and then a light on the opposite of that one. Then four more lights shown themselves so very small, in the empty spaced left by the other blips of white.

_What is this?_ She 'asked' herself.

The lights continued to grow in size until they were no longer white, but yellow, or orange, or blue, or green, one even an odd shade of magenta. Soon it became apparent that these little dots were not beads of existence, but were actually small stars. They kept growing, though, and became fairly large stars, and then even further still, until when they stopped growing Kagome could sense their heat, each one almost right upon her.

She felt ganged up upon.

In a brilliant flash of light, each of the stars threw a solar flare out at her, attaching it to her. It was quite frightening, but not terrorizing.

"Speak sooth, newly fallen." She 'heard' in her 'mind'. The tone of the 'voice' was not impeding at all; quite calm in fact, feminine, and inquisitive. "Is indeed thy call Higurashi Kagome?"

She got it. The voice was asking her name. It was that green star that said it: sun spots formed in a pattern reminiscent to the feeling of the question. "Yes, that's my name…"

The sun spots stopped, for no voice came from any star. It lasted like this for a while until Kagome could bear it no longer. "May I ask what has happened to me? This isn't what has happened in the past when the Shikon no tama-"

All the stars stirred, with small black bubbles popping across their surface: mumbles in her mind.

"You didn't speak truth," A red one said, masculine, upset. "You did not say you were the holder of the **_link_**." The way he said it, and the others' response… it was not a good thing. Very offended, and angry.

"I have spoken the truth: I was only asked for my name, and nothing else. Making an assumption that I'd know that I was supposed to introduce-"

"Be quite." It was firm, definite. The feminine blue star that 'said' it was obviously not pleased.

This time, the green star 'spoke' up. "Lady Kagome, thee doest understand that death is thine?"

It took a moment for Kagome to pick apart the sentence and translate, but then it hit her and shook her like she'd been crushed by a piece of cement by the force of the shock. "…I'm dead…?"

"You think that'd you'd be talking to us if you weren't?" A yellow star, masculine, said sarcastically. He sounded slightly adolescent.

"…Inuyasha…" Kagome thought. It was the only thing she could, and now that she was linked to all the others, they thought it from her. "…I didn't even get to speak with him…"

"Spare us the romantic melodrama, please: It does get _so_ old." The red star said.

"Oh shut up. Go blow up or something!" Kagome was angry now at the stars around her, that they felt no empathy, had no willingness to try and understand, or feel. "Just let me be alone or with Inuyasha! Screw all of you! I-"

"**SILENCE.**" It was said by all eight of the stars, not yelled by them. The volume of it was far beyond deafening, at least on human ears.

"We shall leave you to your lonesome in plenty time, Higurashi." A white and yellow star said. "But only after the inquisition is finished. It appears that just before your death, you felled a total fifty intelligent lives, Two million, four hundred sixty five thousand, three hundred seventy nine unintelligent lives, ninety four thousand, eight hundred eighty seven unaware lives, and did this in front of a good many more, but I grow tired of speaking numbers, so I shall not." A lime green star, older, male, 'said'. "You are to tell and explain what it is that inspired you to do such a thing so cruel."

"It wasn't cruel." She began, but was taken as finished with her sentence, and was cut off by the blue star.

"Oh, we think so, for-"

"Would you at least have enough of a soul to let me finish speaking?!" Kagome roared. In life, this would be another example of a short burst from the Higurashi volcano; here, though, the heat within here exploded in size, and she saw pink flashes and whips of light striking the other stars and going even farther out.

"Don't preach about respect." The white and yellow said, his tone unpleasant. "Just finish what you were saying, then."

"It wasn't cruel," Kagome repeated, flustered on the inside. "It was vile and despicable and disgusting and heart wrenching and so painful on me that if I had a heart I'd want to rip it out and offer it to you so that I could show what I meant by saying that it hurts for me, but even that couldn't sway you, from what I've seen."

"Don't make assumptions." A dark green one said. It was feminine, and also displeased.

The main green one sent a stream of fiery gas at the dark green one and a few others, apparently preparing to speak. "Thou suggest that perhaps we of the shell should be most inclined to not be so ungentle to this rosy color?"

Kagome deciphered the sentence while listening to the annoyed grumbles and weak concordances of the other stars: The green said, roughly, "Why don't we not try to chew off her head yet?"

Kagome sent a spot pattern of thanks to the green star, then continuing to speak. "And furthermore… the Shikon no tama…" They all shuddered. "It took over me, after I heard… something that I've been hearing, and feeling, for quite a while."

"Such would be…?" The green one asked.

And so Kagome told her and the others the poem of failing, flailing, and all of the rest with it.

"I can't believe he did it again…" the yellow one said. "Even after punishment, he still is giving prophecy to a planet that's over it's fair share anyway."

"Huh?" Kagome said, quite confused.

Many of the stars gave aggravated sighs, but a white star spoke up. It a small voice, that of a small child: Kagome couldn't determine the gender. "Every planet that is dominated by a self-aware species occasionally has an allowed prophet that links us with the prophet, and thus judgment from all those dead. A while back, centuries for humans, one star was assigned to deliver a prophet to the planet Gai - what humans call Earth. But the star split up the connecting flame and brought to many different people over a small period of time for him, many decades for humans, our judgments. And each semi-prophet would get a general sensation of what the prophecy was and our judgment and personal feelings, but many then went and interpreted it in different ways, a few even for their own disposal. Some based 'religions' on what they thought was correct, and although one of them got it quite correct by simple thought alone - which was admirable - even in that religion things broke up and caused havoc. It was disgusting seeing what people did on the planet, even persecuting the kind that had been their brethren for generations."

"Demons, you mean." Kagome said. "Human went after demons."

"She may be a recently fallen, but she is not a fool." The dark green one said approvingly.

"Indeed, such is the case." The white one affirmed, then continuing. "And so we punished him to share the mind-space of the star already watching over the planet, but he could not speak to any other, nor could he do anything but watch what happened in human time what he had done to the system there, and to Gai. As such, there has been no order to allow a prophet to be born on the planet since."

To Kagome, the whole explanation seemed very rehearsed, as if this was a regular question asked by the 'recently fallen'. But a question came from her soul concerning the whole matter. "So then… which prophet got it mostly right? Of which religion, I mean."

"You are not permitted to know until your essence at Gai has fully vanished." the blue one said. "Otherwise one might try to relay such information like the 'true' Faith, the meaning of the universe, or the fate of those of Arsol, or Mars to you, to those still are alive."

"The dead know all of that?"

"Of course we do; I just told you we do." The blue star said grumpily.

"But until your essence is gone, you shall not be allowed to know, or induce NOVA." The Red one said. "So until that time arrives, this court of judgment is adjourned. Higurashi is to spend semi solitude with a random other until the fulfillment of judgment can be made."

"What?" Kagome asked, but then their arms of light went back to the corresponding stars, and they zoomed off towards the dark abyss, quickly fading and vanishing altogether.

Kagome's thoughts went back to despair now, now that she was alone. If she had even been able to at least speak with her other half, with Inuyasha, then she might feel a little better. But… how would that be possible?

_Perhaps…__I could do the whole prophet thing to him, and let him know how I felt about him, and everything! Perhaps-_

_I wouldn't recommend it._ She heard in her mind. She had been so fixed on her mindset that she did not even realize the random 'star' was right next to her, an arm of light attached to her. _Your last shell was a human, right? Ha, those on Gai don't need another prophet; they need a savior. But I guess I should be careful, with the way I speak. I may just be reborn there in a little bit._

She no longer felt like conversing. Kagome was weary now, her soul so tired and weak, since it longed to cry so dearly, and yet could do nothing.

_The silent type, huh... Still can't get over death, even when your dead? Hah, you'll get used to just being soul. It just takes-_

_If it's so obvious that we need help on earth,_ Kagome had no anger, instead bitterness. What was with all of these stars, these **souls** apparently, anyway? Did they have any empathy towards anyone else besides themselves and their kind? _Then why don't any of you try to do anything, to help us out?_

_We? Us? You're still thinking in living terms, rosy. The only we and us are right here in space. And yeah, the jurors have thought about trying to make things better, but- ack, your so selfish! Help the humans? Help the people? What about the others on your planet, huh? Or the rest of life in the universe? You know, my last shell was this little, shelled, sea animal in the Andromeda galaxy, that actually was a part of a tribe und-_

_I didn't once say humans or demons or anything! _Desperation setting in. _I said us! ALL of us!_

_Oh, sure, whatever, rosy. You really are arrogant._

_I have a name! It's Kagome Higurashi, and I know I'm being arrogant and inconsiderate and-_

_Then why are you doing it if you know about it?_ he asked, with the tone of mockery of an immature child. _Why don't you think about **me**, eh? I'm a part of us, too._

_WELL, DUH! AND THE REASON I'M KNOWINGLY BEING ARROGANT IS BECAUSE YOU REFUSED TO LISTEN TO ME BEING POLITE AND QUITE, SO NOW I TRIED THE OTHER WAY, OKAY!? FOR A BIT I TRIED TO BE EMPATHETIC TO YOU, BUT THEN YOU JUST DIDN'T LISTEN, SO I BROUGHT THE SAME BACK TO YOU THAT YOU DID TO ME!_

_That's why no one here helps the living. _He 'said' quite coolly. _We tried to talk to them kindly, but the ignored us, so we get arrogant to them. We won't speak to them if they won't listen._

_Urrrrrrrrrgh!_ What was with this philosophy!? _Can't you remember being alive and wanting to talk with the dead?! But since we can't, slowly we move on! _

_You might have thought you were gifted when you were alive and had the Shikon and all, but you aren't,-_

_I WASN'T GIFTED, YOU IDIOT! AND IT WASN'T A CURSE! IT WAS LIFE! THAT'S THE ONLY LIFE I KNOW!_

_Liar; all of us know we had lives before this one and remember it. Deny it all you want, but everyone who is dead gets to know what their lives were before._

_No, I don't…! _Why won't he listen? Why won't they listen to me?! _I just know me! All I can remember is birth till… death!_

_Still scared to say your dead, huh?_

_**WOULD YOU SHUT UP, YOU BELIGERANT BURNING BALL OF GAS!?**_ Her star, indeed pink, began to tremble and pulsate, but she didn't care at all. Kagome didn't want to be dead or to go on to another life. She wanted to be back in the only life she knew, as Kagome. She wanted to breath in deeply, even if her lungs were bitten by the frost. She wanted to see the world, even f meant her blindness. She wanted to hear every voice, even if she became deaf. She wanted to taste the raw existence, no matter how bitter. She wanted to go back and do something - ANYTHING that could stop everything that was done wrong and help everyone get back a level head. She wanted to go back and touch, feel, hold, squeeze Inuyasha until she couldn't even tell the difference from he and she.

But since she couldn't change the living world, she'd start on the dead one.

**_WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CARED ENOUGH TO EVEN WISH TO SPEAK WITH THE LIVING, TO HELP ANY OF THEM? WHEN DID YOU LAST TRY TO EVEN HELP THE DEAD WITH ANY THING AT ALL? WHEN DID YOU LAST THINK ABOUT SOMEONE ELSE BESIDES YOURSELF? OH, SO I AM SO ARROGANT? INDEED, FOR IF I AM, YOU ARE TOO, FOR YOU ARE WILLINGLY IGNORANT. IT MIGHT BE BLISS FOR YOU, TO ALL ELSE IT IS HELL! SO STOP TRYING TO SUCK AWAY THE 'LIFE' FROM ANY DEAD YOU MEET; YOU AND THE REST OF THE DEAD, STOP IT! AND THEN WHEN YOU ACTUALLY START CARING FOR OTHERS THE WAY YOU WERE TAUGHT IN LIFE, THEN YOU MIGHT JUST BE FREED FROM THIS CYCLE OF REBIRTH YOU ALL KEEP TALKING ABOUT! GO RELAY THAT TO ALL OF YOUR FRIENDS AND LET ME LOVE!_**

She was calmed. The pulsating dimmed and she shrank back to normal size, then even shrinking and cooling slightly. Even when she was alive, she had never gotten so upset with anyone. Even Inuyasha.

The mere thought of him shrank her further.

_You're so melodramatic. And pathetic. That's all you are, a selfish brat. So you thought your Shikon no tama would make you respected and all? Surprise, surprise, you aren't._

_Just leave me to love._

_Oh, so high and mighty, yelling and screaming like some fake prophet of the divine, and now you want my pity? Oh, boo hoo, so sorry for poor little rosy._

_I don't want your pity, my name isn't rosy, I don't want anything because of the Shikon no tama, and it's not mine; some other people stuck it in me for themselves. Now just leave me to love._

_Liar, the Shikon is yours, alright. You were the one who could talk with the dead and all, and how do you use it? Just to talk with your old, pathetic father. Oh yeah, **you** aren't selfish. Oh no, not at all._

_I'm no liar, my father is not pathetic, and it's not like the Shikon came with instructions. Now leave me to love. Please…_

_What, being polite is supposed to help you or-_

_You know, all of you dead could have talked to me, since I had the Shikon no tama. All of you, every last one. And you didn't. You're calling me arrogant, so I call you a hypocritical liar. And I'm sorry if trying to be kind offends you, but it is who I am. It is my flesh and bones. So please leave me to love._

The star wasn't all that happy with that last statement. It seemed like what she said, that the dead had their chance to talk with the living through her, hadn't gone over that well in his soul. He gave no immediate rebuttal, instead sputtering helium for a bit until he could think of something else. _W-well… it's not like a zillion stars could all orbit around the earth and talk to some bratty girl! Your planet would sizzle! And I'm not a liar!_

_That not how it works._ Her tone was calm now, kind, like a mother to child, teacher to student. _When I talked to my father, we were no where near the earth: I was in my own star, and he was in his, but we could see our humonic forms. I went to him, not him to me._

_We-..uh, well, I- FUCK YOU, LIAR! YOU'RE A LIAR, THAT'S ALL! A PATHETIC LIAR!_

_Funny how you keep on saying I'm a liar and I don't deny it, and yet when I said it to you, you said you weren't._

_C-CAUSE I AIN'T!_

_Perhaps so, perhaps not… tell me, have you ever loved someone?_

_SHUT UP, LIAR!_

_I guess I have, when I was alive, at least. _

_I DON'T WANT HEAR ABOUT YOUR CRAPPY LIFE! SHUT UP! SHUT UP!_

_We didn't get along at first; almost killed each other a few times._

_SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP NOW, LIAR! BRAT! LIAR!_

_But somehow, I stopped and tried to understand him, actually tried to… feel what he felt, and how and why; Kind of like how I'm trying to do the same to you now._

The hue of her star grew more pale and vibrant, arms of light and gas spreading far and wide. The star that had come to her was fighting her, but was stuck in an orbit around her growing form. He could not escape. _NO! SHUT UP! YOU CAN'T POSSIBLY UNDERSTAND **ME**! NO ONE WHO LIVED COULD! NO! STOP! SHUT UP!_

_It really worked then, and I started hearing this music in my head, this soft melody whenever I thought about him, felt him, was close to him. Even when I was scared and preoccupied with prophecy… I still heard it. Heh… I can even hear it now; wow, it's loud._

That it was. She was almost fully white now, arms sprouting arms now, suddenly finding new stars beyond the seemingly empty abyss. They were drawn to her, but not destroyed or anything; they were drawn to her to listen to the beautiful melody she gave them all. It was so inspiring, the thought that they _could hear_. But I'm a star, I'm dead, many thought. And yet they heard, something that only the living could do.

_SHUT UP! YOU LIE! I CAN'T HEAR YOU! I WON'T HEAR YOU! STOP IT! STOP IT! THIS WASN'T WHAT THEY SAID WOULD HAPPEN! YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO JOIN US! STOP IT!_

_But I just couldn't say it. I couldn't say that I care for him, that I fancy him so much. It's not that big soppy love you hear in the movies or read in books or fan work or anything; I'm beginning to wonder if that stuff is even real, or if people pretend it or make it up because that's what they felt it was supposed to be without thinking as to what it really was, this love. It's like… you just want to hold each other, want to finish the other's sentences, know what makes them ticked so that you can make them mad and laugh about it just a moment later, and even when you have your privacy, you are never truly alone. _

_No… please, just be quiet…. Just shut up… stop…_

_And now I regret not telling him how much I care for him. How funny that is, how ironic… And then I went out and went both with and against a prophecy… and now I wonder what it was even supposed to be. You were right on that: the Shikon no tama only matters on that planet, not here. But that's because it's matter, like mass…_ Then it struck her. That perhaps…_ We could have shared it. All of us, all the living and the dead, all the species, all the planets, all the stars. It could be the one thing that tied everyone together, the fact that we all could still talk with our loved ones, even if we thought we were talking to them in heaven, nirvana, hell, or where-ever. It doesn't matter!…_

He was silent now. It seemed like he was listening to her. Not only that, her arms were everywhere, touching thousands of stars who suddenly knew all that she did, and were listening closely as the melody kept going.

_He is so beautiful, Inuyasha is. So great, even if it takes patience to see. Maybe it can't really be appreciated if… listen to me, going off like this. Wow, you'd think I was teacher or something in ancient Greece._

_Where's Greece?_ Several hundred of the thousands she touched asked.

_Here, this map I'm thinking of? This is earth, the world, Gai, whatever you name it, it's still home. And right there, at the northern-bottom end of that big sea? That's Greece. A lot of philosophers came from there in ancient times, but those are mainly the ones the world remembered. There must have been millions that history forgot._

She was white now, pure white. Most of her arms now had fused together in one big, white mass that countless stars orbited in. From touching them all, she could hear what they were beginning to think of:

_Oh yeah, I remember feeling like that, that love._

_Life?… oh yeah, I remember when…_

_Wow, I can remember what chocolate tastes like, come to think of it._

_The way she's speaking, it's like those old teaching's I learned…_

Life. She had brought life to the dead.

She was happy for it.

But Kagome still wanted life. No, she didn't want **life**, she wanted to be with the people who were living. That was what she wanted.

--

Inuyasha didn't stop trying to move the wall that had fallen on her, or the iron cross, or any of it. He kept pushing, cursing and pushing, his mind roaring that it couldn't have happened. He wouldn't have let it happen.

Not even when the sky turned from blue to light blue. Then light blue to a very light blue. The sun was hard to pick out of existence. Koika, the lone one of the group who had risen to look at the sky, felt… so warm.

The sky turned to white, and a soft melody was born from the wind.

Suddenly a gale blasted all around them, circling around the crushed orthodox church. From it the melody grew in strength and force and width and fervor, and so many were happy then. They didn't know why, but they were so happy that they were crying. All of the people: Japanese and French, Guard and civilian, human and demon, all crying. Even Inuyasha couldn't stop the cement-like tears from streaming down his cheeks as he fought the wind to fight the wall.

--

_And now… Oh damn, how much I just want him to know. Not just to know, but for me to tell him and give him everything I can and take in everything he gives. To stay with him for as long as I can and work with him to stop all of the things that the living and the dead and the neither from doing that hurts the others._

She had reached the adjourned jury now. They couldn't escape the star for whom they were to pass judgment on. She was all, everything, enveloping all in her warmth and hope and love and melancholy and despair and frustration and all of it all together in the exact meaning to feel.

_Kagome…?_ she heard.

_Dad! Where are y- oh, I 'see' you._

_I know I said you were the brightest star out here, but isn't this a bit much?_

She laughed, and so did the stars and the planets and the living and the dead.

_I guess… it all happened just like it planned to?_

_Yes; I was the first born, so I fell._

_Kagome, do you know the story of Moses? How, after much indeed, he bestowed the plagues, lead the people to the 'promised land' and then disappeared?_

_Up to that point, just about._

_Kagome, don't you see? You are Moses! Only female and Japanese and at the moment dead._

_He's dead too, at last check._

_But there was more to him than that: Many people thought he had died on Mt. Sinai, and so they went into despair. However, he returned with the word of the Christian god and lead the Jesuits for over forty more years._

The melody that was spanning the cosmos suddenly took a jump in power and pitch and speed. _Dad… Why didn't you tell-_

_I thought of it only a few minutes ago - but for you, that would have been weeks, months, even._

_I get it…_ A few of the stars she touched said. _He means that if you're this Moses, you're supposed to go back to your people!_

If Kagome had a jaw, it would have gone slack right about then.

_Dad… you wouldn't have thought of anything that might get me back to life, would you?_

_Besides the reincarnation stuff? Sorry, Kagome, I haven't._

_Hold on!_ A star said, speaking with a strong German accent. _You are a white hole! I bet that you can be balanced by a black hole!_

_Really?! _That melody was reaching a climax now. _Where- wait, you sound like Albert Einstein._

_Oh… yes, I think that was the name of my last shell… _The star went off in thought for a moment before coming back to think to others._ Oh, forget that, girl! I won't even be here but for 20 more hours! Just forget zat! Just find a black hole and dive right in!_

_…Where might I begin looking? The universe is slightly large, you know._

Kagome noticed a star zooming closer to her. Faster and faster, almost at the speed of light. It took her a moment to catch up with the stars' thoughts, _Dad?! What are you-_

_Please tell our family I love them and you very much, Kagome… I don't think I'll get to speak to you again after this-_

_Dad! Stop, what are you do-_

_I'll make enough mass through both your and my stars to force a black hole into existence that has to take you to life._

_Wha- DAD, NO, PLEASE!_

_What, do you think I'm going to die?_

He had her there._ Well, no, but-_

_…Kagome… I didn't want all of this to happen at first, when I came up with the idea of the Shikon no tama. But now, I'm happy we made it. This is my final desire with you: Please love everyone you meet, and share the Shikon with them, and stop all this idiocy in the universe._

_**DAD!**_He was almost there. Only enough time to say one thing more, and then they collide.

**_I LOVE YOU, DADDY!_**

He might have smiled were he living. _Love you, too._

They struck. All the power and light and music all reached it's full paramount in that instant. And then she heard nothing, felt nothing, saw nothing.

And she opened her eyes, coughing so hard she thought her lungs might come out of her lungs. She was still facing the ground, and barely had enough energy to turn herself over; but she did.

Kagome didn't notice the terrified stares of the many in the surrounding area: After all, the destroyed roof of the church had just flew off into the sky and into space, leaving a previously crushed and very dead person breath and coughing and fairly alive.

Her feet burned, her body ached, everything hurt so much, all of her, all of it. And yet she was so happy to feel all of it, any of it, even the slight chill in the spring air.

Kagome for a moment tried to speak, but she realized that the acid from her stomach had really taken a toll on her voice, for it didn't work. Or rather, it didn't work well.

Suddenly then, a body flung itself onto her. It was warm, and sounded like the harmony of her melody, so she was happy as Inuyasha kissed her forehead. "Oh kami…" He kept saying over and over again as he held her. "Oh Kagome…"

For being dead for a while, she had to admit, her hearing was pretty good, since she could hear from there, on an altar and under Inuyasha, she heard a few people running over and calling out to someone named Brunet. She was even more surprised when she heard them speak in a foreign language, and yet she knew what they said:

"Oh shit, we have to stop the bleeding. Here, I'll call the helicopter-"

"Gyah…" Brunet hissed. "Fine, but tell them that we'll be going to Russia… Ack!… Careful, please! Also, hey, Marie, tell them not to keep a lot of carry on- I want to get as many of these victims out of here as I can."

"Sure. I'm on it."

It didn't take more than ten minutes for three large, U.N. helicopters to start landing in the gardens. By then the sound of Japanese police was starting to grow, as word began to spread in the Japanese government that the prime minister had died, and the Deputy Prime Minister was now on top.

The helicopters could only fit two thirds of the people there, including Inuyasha, Koika, Kagome, Koga, Sango, and Miroku, and when they took off, the remaining third scattered, mainly heading up Mount Hakodate. Kagome wished she could have told the westerners to try and cram the people in, but she couldn't speak in the first place, so that made things a little more difficult.

But now, they were over the sea, and here she was; in pain, but safe with Inuyasha and her friends all around her. And on top of that, she was leaving Japan. And so now she wanted to sleep, for she really was tired, and hungry come to think of it. And thirsty. She'd tend to those things later, though. Right now she just wanted to sleep. And so she did, with every intention of waking up.

* * *

Friday, April 8, 10:22 AM

Roma, Italy, E.U.

Azienda Ospedaliera Policlinico Umberto 1

Kagome felt like lead as she was gently awakened by the fluent ticking of a mechanical heartbeat. It was rather annoying, actually, so she tried to roll over on her side and go back to sleep. But instead, she got a throbbing pain in her left hand, so strong that it forced her awake and to whimper a bit.

The light of the room blinded her for a moment, but she greatly enjoyed its warmth, so she let the light in. As her eyes slowly adjusted, Kagome began to make out the foot of a bed , near the end of her feet. And then a door beyond it, and soon she found she was in a sunlit hospital room, an iv in her left wrist, several large wires taped onto her stomach, and many other things. She felt like a Christmas tree.

Slowly she let her head fall to the right, looking at the slumbering half-demon hunched over a large chair. Immediately she tried to say something to him, but her throat seared with pain and her stomach lurched, causing her to instead cough miserably.

He stirred a bit in his sleep, and started to move around a bit in the chair, as if slumber was leaving him.

Kagome looked around her bed for something to get his attention, or to throw at him or something like that. It was then that she heard a droplet of fluid drip into the filter of the iv.

_Darkness. Pinned to a cross. Drop of water. Drop of water. Never ending. Steppy. **Her. **Stun gun. Striking me. Drip. Drip. DRIP. DRIP! **DRIP! DRIP!**_

Kagome shook all over as she tried to get the awful thoughts from her mind, sending her into another fit of strained coughing.

The sound of her distress fully shook Inuyasha from sleep, as it had in the few days they had been here. He jumped up, alert and worried, moving to run over to her, instead tripping over the chair and falling face first to the ground.

She kept coughing. He looked up at Kagome, and instead found that she was actually smiling between coughs. _Laughing_…

"What's so funny!?" He asked sourly.

She kept smiling and coughing, gently pointing her hand at him.

He made a pout and growled, but Kagome could tell it was all for show. It was just a gut feeling, which probably wasn't saying much considering how little she had in her gut right now, but it still made her feel good.

Inuyasha 'got over it' fairly quickly, going into mild mumbling for a minute or two until he looked out the window. Then his face paled slightly, and he turned to face her. "Uh… Kagome…?"

She looked at him with raised eyebrows.

"You… Er… um, I…" He took a deep breath, looking out the window so he didn't have to look at her. "I don't…I don't want you out of my sight again… That… What happened… I was real scared. I… I've never been that scared, when you…" He was getting close to stuttering as his breath got heavier. _Calm down, Inuyasha…_

_Be bold in your time of crisis, and fell it straight on!_

_I'll give those words one more chance, book. If they don't work this time, I'm burning you._ Inuyasha took a deep breath. "You… I really do care about you, Kagome… If you don't care about me, that's fine, but… I don't-"

He stopped to look over at her. She had a huge smile on her face and was pumping her arms up and down, kicking her legs under the sheets, rocking the entire bed.

"Uh…" He only stared while she went wacko. Slowly she calmed down a bit and beckoned him over to him. The moment he got into range, as best she could, she wrapped her arms around his middle.

If Inuyasha had any doubt before about her returning affections, they were all gone now.

A few minutes went by as the two just simply held each other.

"Um… Kagome…? There's something else…" He began, sounding slightly perturbed by breaking the sacred silence.

She nodded, as if to say 'Go ahead, say it.'

"Well… You know… how we told you what all happened when we were coming after you?… in the gardens?…"

She indeed did, and nodded so.

"You see… Well, here, I'll show you first." Slowly he moved the different machines she was attached to so that they would roll more easily. Then Inuyasha went back to the bed and picked Kagome up and out of the bed, gently setting her down on her feet. "Can you walk?"

She nodded once again. He held out his hand, and the two went over to the window Inuyasha had been looking out of.

He undid the thin sheet cover on it and opened it, letting a roar of sound and voice into the room.

Kagome looked out of the window, at the possibly thousands of people all outside of the hospital and into the neighboring parks and streets. Most were demons, but there were a lot of humans and half demons there too.

One of them spotted her, and shouted something in… Arabic, maybe? She didn't have much time to think about it before all of the gatherers saw her.

"HIGURASHI! SAVIOR! HIGURASHI! SAVIOR! HIGURASHI! SAVIOR!…" Was the chant the boomed out together, like a giant megaphone.

Kagome was… well, stunned, really. This was not exactly what she thought she'd find outside of a hospital window.

"The camera-bots-!" Inuyasha yelled towards her, trying to get his voice in over all of the others. "Brunet got the camera-bots and went on a massive campaign to get you out there! Basically, you've now got a day named after you, have a dozen medals from a dozen countries, and are the equivalent of Moses to the Demons and crap!"

She just stood there stupidly, as if waiting for someone to say just kidding and all of the people to stop working, like they were robots or something.

_Dad… you said I was like Moses and all… I didn't know you meant literally! This… what am I to do?! _

The door to the hospital room burst open. Sango bolted right up to her friends and held her close, mumbling things that neither understood. Miroku, Koga and Koika filed in a little less extremely, but all of them were quite happy. The last person to come in wasn't though; the nurse rushed in and yelled something at her in Italian, shutting the window and whisking Kagome back into bed. After pushing everyone out of the room (the woman really had guts, pushing a growling half- dog demon out of the room and all), she gathered some breakfast things on a tray and gave it to Kagome, a little more gently. She also turned on the television and handed Kagome the remote. After writing some things down on a clipboard on a hook against the wall, the nurse left the room and went outside, apparently to give a piece of her mind to the others she'd just shoved out of the room.

Kagome quickly changed the language presentation on the T.V. to Japanese. She didn't actually needed it: for some reason, she knew what the newswoman was saying, even though it was in Italian. But the little Hiragana and kanji on the bottom would lessen any others' thoughts that something was screwed up with her brain.

"…And the new Prime minister has apparently called for Kagome Higurashi to be returned to his nation for trials for treason and assassination of former Prime minister Zusayama, but the E.U. has already responded by reportedly telling him to "Go to hell, with the other Minister" ."Apparently the female news anchor found this fairly funny, along with the rest of the crew of the show, for there were sounds of laughter in the anchor room. "In fact, many people throughout the European Union have begun to say that she is an angel from heaven, since within the hour of her arrival in Rome, a vaccine was successfully tested against the Avian Flu, and the final testing for Human cases today are predicted to be phenomenal. Some people have gone so far so as to say that she is a goddess descended to the earth to save us all, as this altar being made by several druid communities in Eire show."

Kagome was dumbfounded, watching a few dozen people working on a large, wood, stone and earth monument in a grassy pasture-land, all apparently for her.

"And with the videos of what she was able to do reach around the globe, there are even more and more people who are beginning to follow her 'teachings', so to speak. In fact, the newly formed United Peoples of America has absorbed almost all of the breakaway parts of the former U.S.A except for The Republic of Alaska, Hawai'i, Cascadia, and the Divine Nation of God. However, Cascadia has apparently signed a formal alliance with the U.P.A. to go to war with the D.N.G., thus ending the war between the two opposing nations in favor of two against one. It has been proposed that Cascadia will try to join the U.P.A., but both nations have denied and struck down such a proposal, apparently in favor of two nations in peace instead of one in violence."

"And even though many authorities all over the world continue to say the things witnessed from the Camera-bots in Hakodate were created via a computer, most experts on the subject say that such effects demonstrated are currently impossible, not to mention the blinding flash of light seen all over the world when the event occurred. All over the world there are demonstrations by millions of people, showing their support in the Japanese girl who we are all dying to know more about. So we now leave you with a few videos of these demonstrations as EuroHour comes up next. This is Prime News Italia in the morning, and I'm Annunziata Giordani."

And they showed the videos with the locations shown in print at the bottom. Lhasa, Hyderabad, Tikrit, Cotonou, Blantyre, Pretoria, Santiago, Managua, Canberra, Jakarta, Singapore, Dili, Suva, Bangkok, Busan, Vladivostok, Warsaw, Leon, Paris, Barcelona, Edinburgh, Helsinki, Atlanta, Toronto…

She couldn't believe it. Here she was, one girl who had just done what she had thought was right (except for the times when she wasn't exactly in control of her body), and… all of this? She hadn't meant to do all of this, had she? The whole world peace thing, that was good and all but… _A cult following?_

She looked out the indoor windows as the nurse walked off and Inuyasha and the rest moved to come back inside.

Kagome smiled. Even if all the people in the world worshiped her, at least there were some people that she could worship too.

* * *

AND WE'RE DONE!

Except for the Epilogue that will answer some unattended to questions. For example, how did Sesshomaru get the Tessaiga? And how does he know Kagome? Those amongst other things are soon to come!


	26. Epilogue

Daibakuhatsu Daigaku

Epilogue

* * *

Friday, December 23, 2033, 5:38 PM

Seoul Teukbyeolsi, Korean Union

Dongyam Complex

Kagome hoped she had heard the right address. Not only would it have been embarrassing to tell someone, "Whoops, sorry, wrong apartment!", but it would also be a fairly nice blow to her self-esteem, which still wasn't doing all that well. There had been so many psychiatrists that had flocked to her after the hospital allowed the public to come and see her, but most of them were only there for publicity or for money: once she discovered this in those people, Kagome would quickly and politely ask them to leave.

But the few who did actually try to help her… they really couldn't. Mainly because the things they asked her to do or told her to think… they only helped in the short term. After about an hour had passed since they had left (her voice so tired she could barely even cough), it would all just come tumbling down again. Having others think she was a goddess and thinking of herself as a goddess were two very different things, and the later just was not going to happen.

The depression and nervosas that later developed weren't all that bad, now: The moment Inuyasha and Sango and everyone else found out about it, they talked to the head of the hospital and had all public refused entry unless to speak to other patients.

Some gifts people sent her were nice too; all of the foreign movies (which for some reason still not understood to her, she could understand, whether they were in Icelandic, Suomi, Turk or Breton) were a nice little relief. Some of the others though… the gold bars from billionaires, the medals from nations, the worship symbols parents had their children make to devote their never ending spiritual, mental, and physical alliance to her… sometimes it would make her cry, or disappointed, and sometimes even angry. For example, when the Life-term president of the Democratic Republic of Congo sent her a personal invitation to the capital along with several medals, she ripped up the letter and threw the medals at the wall, which then glowed bright pink and exploded (she wasn't aware of that last part because she was crying; the nurse in the room, though, was).

But… Always, as often as allowed - and sometimes even not allowed - Inuyasha was always in there with her, always willing to understand what she was going through, even when she couldn't say a word. For four long months, he was the savior of a savior. At first he tried to be a little less like himself and more… wary of what he was doing. But after a letter from a male Brazilian model declaring his passionate love for her, he ripped up the letter, stomped on it with lightning speed, and then dropped it into the waiting room fish tank as an evening meal to the fauna. Then he was back to normal, though more considerate.

Something that did calm her heart a bit was the fact that Miroku and Sango seemed to have developed a new fascination with life: in frank honesty, they all had. However, the first official couple of the group was the most passionate about it. Everyday they were going out to see Roma (learning along the way how to avoid paparazzi), and not just the tourist attractions. After their fifth trip out, Sango had come in absolutely dazzled. Kagome had then held up one of her questions cards (pieces of cardboard with common questions she'd ask) that said, "What is it?" Her friend then told Kagome about a quick train ride to a glorious cliffside that looked out over the west, and how she and Miroku had explored the barely inhabited area for hours, watching the sun slowly go down. And after a few more moments for the memory to repeat in her head, she said "It was the second most wonderful thing in the world I think I'll ever see…"

Kagome then scribbled a new question onto a clean card. "What's the first?"

Sango lightheartedly scoffed and said. "How about who I was there with, eh? I thought that was obvious!"

Thankfully Miroku wasn't in the room to hear that, or else the inflation of his ego would have suffocated Italy.

They went through spring, and then summer, celebrating Koga's, Inuyasha's, and Koika's birthdays' respectively. And then when August came and Kagome could start to really speak for more than thirty seconds in an hour, she was summoned to Geneva to speak at an U.N. hearing on the genocide in Japan. That had been very demanding on all of her, for just after reaching Wednesday of the second week, she collapsed, and woke up two days later sobbing. Thankfully, she was only called back to be a witness once more for that, and that was it.

But in October, she was asked to attend a special meeting of the European Parliament, which only after much coaxing did she decide to attend. She was glad she did though; a joint representation from Germany, France, and England all came forth to announce their push to declare all forms and parts of the Overdeclaration unjust and illegal, which was followed with a massive round of applause. It took two weeks or so before it could officially be done, but once it did… Well, Koga and Inuyasha were the _most_ ecstatic of the group. And although the E.U. started seeing a massive influx of demonic migrants, most were welcoming with kind arms.

The night after its dissolving from legislature, she and the others also attended a private dinner party with Jules-Serge Brunet and his family along with the president and her family at the Élysée Palace. Though very politically correct and slightly awkward, it was a nice meeting. Kagome, though, was more of a conversationalist with the president, her family, and the family of the Prime minister; Jules-Serge was more interested with talking with the others that had been out in the gardens months prior. This, she knew, was to be expected: the others had been with him there when all of those things happened.

Something that really made her placid was the fact that since Ayame's family hadn't been found, he was going to try to see if (assuming they didn't have other plans) he could get a monument of her put up in Paris and the La Defense area. Koga then told him (since he was the one who had known her the best and the longest) that she had told him once that she always wanted to go to Paris, so perhaps it would be proper to have her ashes placed in **one** monument.

The room was quiet for a while.

When they left France, the foundation of the monument was being poured. The end piece would be carved out of Jade, the color of her eyes. Koga had made a quiet promise to himself that he had to go and see it when it was completed.

The male wolf demon was not doing well. First of all, after going into full demonic form after so long in humonic shape, it really tore at his muscles. While the group was in Roma, a few days after Kagome had woken up, he'd woken up and hadn't been able to move from the neck down. He had then been admitted, and after a week of medication, he had started to regain feeling in his limbs. It was another fortnight before we was able to walk again. Though, most of the doctors in Italy didn't actually know _why_ the things the did worked, so they had been very wary and scribal with what they did.

But things were still very bad within him. After what all happened in the gardens… other than Kagome, he was the most traumatized. He had been unusually quiet and reserved since it all happened. Mostly, though, what really shook him was Ayame's death. Miroku made the guess that since he and Aya were from the same wolf demon pack, and had, at one point, almost been officially mates, it naturally caused a lot of mental trauma. Koga had overheard this, and knew that it was mostly true. Mostly.

He hadn't just lost Ayame, whom he still felt fairly attached to still, but also, Kagome, who had made up her mind on her heart. He had pretty much guessed that this was what was going to happen, but it still didn't keep him from hurting a good bit. But then guilt set in, in the thoughts that if he had just kept a fancy of Ayame, then she wouldn't have died. This was, sadly, true. On top of these things, in July, Koika confessed to him that she fancied him a great deal.

It really made him feel lower than a steamrolled slug to thank her for her affection, but tell her that he couldn't return it. After her initial uproar and coping with rejection (which lasted about a fortnight as well), Koika only intermittently spoke with him. The rest of his time in Italy was spent either alone or speaking softly with Kagome (with Inuyasha in the room, ever watchful).

Miroku and Sango, though spending time as mediators and helps to/with the others, really spent the most of their time in Europe beautifully. This was especially so when the vaccine to the mutated avian flu went out to humans and demons, and within days it had been limited to only small pockets of infected areas. They spent a good amount of time in the rural south, sometimes only taking with them some Euro and a translatote (a machine that had apparently been in use in Europe for a decade that acted as a quick listen-and-respond translator in a multitude of different languages).

On one such excursion, the pair sneaked out of the hospital in the early morn, and jumped onto the Unito Linea Ferroviaria Italiana down to Napoli. They went all over the city, even over to the Vecchia Citta area and getting to see in real life the destruction that Vesuvius had done a decade or two prior. But it only spurred relapses in memory back to the day in the gardens, so they then quickly retreated back to the main city area. It was about then, after the bad thoughts had passed and they were walking serenely through the narrow streets, did Miroku propose the idea of the two of them owning a house here later in life.

Kagome could only sit in muted frustration that night when she 'asked' what had happened to Sango, who was non-responsive and dreamy eyed.

And in the mean time, the world went on, though very shaken indeed. After months of fighting, the troops of Cascadia and the U.P.A. finally besieged Omaha, the capital of the Divine Nation of God, and the civil war ended, officially with the Peace Treaty of Helsinki, in November. And although peace was good, it didn't overshadow the cons of the year long conflict: An estimated eight million people died (nearly three percent of the population), every city was almost completely destroyed and sometimes wiped off the map, and a former zealous nation of one became a more humble group of four nations. Cascadia became a full fledged nation with a representative to the U.N., and Hawai'i and Alaska were soon to follow, while the U.P.A. was trying to first get a government set up. Furthermore, the former states of Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire officially annexed themselves to Canada, while Puerto Rico was still under the rule of Havana.

But things were much more calm after billions of people saw the video of Kagome Higurashi, the 'savior'. Actually, when it was learned that she endorsed the ideas of many different Siberian, Caucasus, and Sub-Siberian attaining independence (along with the massive threat of violence like that seen in the former United States), the Russian government finally set up a system for different states to petition for cession with due promise for its acceptance through a fair population vote of the people in that prefecture.

Thus, there were already the new nations of Kalmykia, Bashkortostan, Chukotka, Sakha, Karelia, Dagestan, Altai, Tuva, Tartarstan, Nenetsia, Khantia-Mansia, and Koryakia. The fact that the ass who kidnapped and tortured the savior was Russian Orthodox helped a bit with this as well.

That was not the primary thing on Kagome's mind currently, though, as she stood in a rather narrow apartment hallway with Inuyasha, Sango, Miroku, Koga, and Koika surrounding her, anxiously awaiting the opening of the door.

The wooden panel clicked, and then gently swept open.

Ms. Higurashi couldn't let the air in her lungs out as she simply gazed at her daughter. The younger woman had the look of ware and weariness, as if she had become someone twenty years old on the inside while the outside stayed the same. They all had this look of internal age, but she really had it the greatest. And also, the immediate perky smile of her first child was no longer there; instead, a calm and serene smile, pained slightly, but not forced in the least.

"Hi, mama." Kagome said weakly.

Ms. Higurashi took that as her cue. She latched onto her daughter and just held her close to her, both of them clutching each others' clothes and crying soul tears on each other.

The rest of the group silently moved inside the front stepping room of the apartment and shut the door, respectively taking their shoes off and replacing them with the slippers available.

"Oh Buddha…" Ms. Higurashi choked out, just loud enough for her daughter to hear. "I'm so sorry I left you…"

"I'm… I'm okay… mama…" Kagome answered. "…Mama… you're crushing my throat…"

"Oh!" Her mother almost jumped back and hit Koga in the back - almost. She was short a few centimeters. "I'm sorry, dear!"

Kagome smiled and shook her head, rubbing her nose and then her eyes, just like she had always done when she was a child. "It's okay. I'm okay."

There was a loud thudding in the room beyond, like a runaway train had found itself on the thirty eighth floor of the Korean apartment building. Inuyasha and the others jumped out of the way just in time as a green and blue blur whizzed past.

"SIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISS!!"

Kagome's younger brother literally threw himself like a rocket off of the small stair from the main room to the stepping room at her, catching her dead on and ramming the both of them back against the door with a loud crack. " -hack, cough- How are -cough- you Sota?"

"I'm great how are you are you okay I saw the video on the internet how'd that happen how'd you do it looked awesome you fried Zusayama and for that you are officially the coolest sister EVER!"

Kagome looked at her mother. "You let him have caffeine again, didn't you?"

"Did someone say caffeine?" A female voice called from the main room.

Kagome took a step forward, even with her brother hanging off of her. "Is that you, Rin?"

* * *

Inuyasha was most definitely not happy with Rin's special boyfriend. Of course, it wasn't any of his business on her side. The girl could do whatever she wanted…

…But that only went so far as far as his brother was concerned.

The half demon was sitting in a foul humor in a puffy, white coach, glaring at Sesshomaru on the other side of the room, snuggling with the human girl. _Him… snuggling…?! Ugh, that hypocritical ass-hole._

"So…" Kagome continued: she was talking to the full dog demon, albeit weakly. She seemed to be in an inquisitive mood, so Inuyasha didn't bother her. Much. "The old woman… the ones you say gave you…" Kagome took a deep breath, trying to keep her voice going. "…The Tessaiga… Can you-"

"This Sesshomaru has come to realize she was a former aide in a Sunset Corporation project of some sort, one based in Osaka. The researchers of mine also know that her last known residence was in Hakodate Hokkaido, where you and I last crossed paths."

Both Rin and Inuyasha perked up to listen a little more intently and a little less on the dinner preparations in the kitchen.

"Yes, Inuyasha… he said something about-" Kagome looked the man over very quickly before suddenly realizing he was missing an arm. She recognized the ending of it, for she had seen one like it in a certain fish market.

_**Seriously!**_** she thought, begging her pardon for the fifth time for running into someone who simply pushed her aside and kept going. ****_This is insane! Someone could loose an arm in here and no one would care!…_**

**She eyed a one armed man walking passed her and almost stopped moving at the irony but was shoved into motion by another passersby.**

"Oh wait… I saw you for a moment once before… what were you doing at a fish market?"

Inuyasha and Rin looked at each other, both very confused as to how fish suddenly came into play.

"That is none of your business, human." He said lividly.

Rin turned her head to look at her designated boyfriend. "Um, hi there…?"

Sesshomaru gave a very odd look, for even though it appeared that he was quite commonly stoic, his eyes also wavered in recognition of a stupid act. "It _is _habit." He said finally.

"It won't be if I have anything to say about it." Rin grumbled with a slightly playful tone.

It was quite for a bit of time in the small sitting room. It remained so for about a minute, Kagome and Rin looking at each other as if to say, "What should we do?"

Luckily, in the adjacent room with the telly, Sango, Sota, and Koika suddenly burst out yelling madly, causing everyone else in the apartment to jump.

"What the hell's going on?!" Inuyasha yelled at them, getting out of his seat and marching into the other room. He was glad he got an excuse to leave (especially since he grabbed Kagome along the way and was dragging her along behind him).

The three were just clapping and yelling and wooting like drunk fools. However, with his good hearing, the half demon could also hear a similar sound elsewhere in the apartment, and even a small bit drifting in from the cracked open window.

He looked towards the T.V. screen where a video clip of the President of the K.U. was smiling and waving his hands at reporters, who were going nuts at a press conference. The small hangul writing at the bottom suddenly changed, and with a moment's delay, the Japanese hiragana translation came through:

"President declares Overdeclaration illegal; Dissolves It."

He stopped breathing for a moment. Inuyasha looked closer at the screen, blinking a few times to make sure he wasn't loosing it.

"President declares Overdeclaration illegal; Dissolves It."

A very small word passed from his lips into the room, so very faint that not even the demons present could find it audible.

"…free…"

"Guys…! Can you be quiet? I'm trying to listen to… what he's saying!" Kagome managed out, getting down on the ground and inching closer to the glass. "…It was quite basic, really…" She was repeating what he was saying, only in Japanese. She didn't stop to think why or how she knew Korean all of the sudden. "…That piece of legislation violates… everything the new constitution stands for…And to say everyone is equal and… free and then deny a few from this… it is hypocritical, and I don't… want the Korean Union to stand for hypocrisy…" She looked at Inuyasha, eyes so very hopeful and happy. He just knew that, just from looking at her, just from smelling the slight pitch in her scent.

Koika and Sango then ran into the other rooms of the house, spreading the news. Sota, being slightly jealous of this, bolted after them, desperate to get to someone else and spread the announcement too.

Thus Inuyasha and Kagome were alone in the room. Inuyasha moved to sit down, but Kagome shook her head and stood up, then walking over to the balcony and opening the door. She passed onto the veranda and sat down, staring out at the city lights beyond the metal bars.

The half demon followed after her, sliding the pane of glass closed behind him once outside. He sat down next to her, both leaning against the cement of the side of the building. It wasn't terribly cold right then, or at least it didn't seem like it with their backs against a warming agent like the apartment side. It was fairly windy, though, enough to whip both of their long hair a fair bit, but only in gusts.

They were quiet for a while, just listening to the elation all about.

"It's weird…" Inuyasha decided to break the icy silence first. "…I really thought that when stuff like this happened… First in the E.U., and now here… I really thought that I'd be right with them and going nuts. That'd it'd really be the greatest day I'd ever have."

"But it's not…?" Kagome said faintly.

"Nah, it's not bad or anything. It's pretty good, but… I feel more like… this…" He shimmied a little closer to her. "You know, more calm…"

"I don't mind calm either…" She said in response. Kagome let her neck go, her head then slipping on the wall and resting on his shoulder. "Though… I do have to say… This'll help things when I have to go to China…"

"Keh…" He held her hand in his and squeezed it gently. She squeezed back. "They'll snap in no time. With all of the riots and stuff, and with the Dalai Lama announcing his heir, they'll have to let Tibet go."

"Not necessarily. All of those things haven't stopped them… in the past from keeping it…"

"Well, yeah, but you'll kick their ass, just like you did to Russia." He said approvingly. "Besides, the Uyghers and Song and Manchu are going at it too. Beijing can't last much longer like-"

"Can we stop with… all of the politics stuff?" She almost begged.

Inuyasha fell silent, slightly ashamed.

"I'd really… like to focus on the scenery with you." Kagome scrunched up her legs close, then let them lop over onto Inuyasha's lap. He blushed slightly, but didn't act on it immediately.

Kagome used her legs as leverage to get onto Inuyasha's lap, her back on his chest. Both of them, simply sitting there, looking out at the lights of Seoul.

"Have you seen any romance movies?…" Kagome asked after a while.

"Not willingly." Inuyasha answered, trying to keep his eyes out at the city instead of looking down at her. "Why?"

"Cause this would be the point in time… when the main romantic interest of… the lead woman would put… his arms around her."

"The sounds sappy." He retorted.

"…Yeah, it pretty much is." She replied. "Of course, remember… it's in these weird worlds that they have… people kissing every other second like it's fully natural… or something."

He chuckled lightly at that. "Yeah.: If you kiss all the time, then what's to make it special in the first place?"

She tilted her head up so she looked at him in an upside down manner. "Have you hit your head…? It sounded like you just said something… wise."

"So I can't be wise?" He asked with fake incredulity.

"You can; rarely. I guess this is one of those rare… moments…" She said. Her voice really was starting to bother her.

"So what am I the rest of the time, stupid?" Again, it was fake anger, but it was amusing to both of them none the less.

"No, just awesome…" She said, nudging her way a bit back, closer to his body.

"You cold?" He asked.

"Not really. I'm close enough." She answered.

They were quiet for a little longer until little snow flakes gently drifted down from the sky. They were very small at first, but after a bit of time they grew noticeably larger, and with each gust of wind, they'd fly all over the balcony.

Inuyasha leaned forward slightly, resting his chin on her shoulder, looking out at the stars of life, the stars above, and the drifting stars from above down to the land of life. "You're pretty awesome too." He whispered gently.

"Thanks… do I get an award?" she giggled. It was the first time in almost nine months since she had done that, and it startled him for a moment.

But then Inuyasha retained his composure, like that book Miroku gave to him taught. He practically had that thing memorized by now. "I thought I was the award?"

"Oh sure, some trophy. Look everyone,… a cute little dog-boy! What a great first prize!"

"They'd all want me." He said in a very fake, macho arrogant voice, that made Kagome burst into laughter, though it soon evolved into coughs.

"Are you okay?" He asked, concerned.

Kagome nodded, hitting her chest a bit with her fist. "Yeah, I'm fine. We're fine, I should say."

"I like that." He responded. "_We're_ fine."

"Mm." She leaned back further against him, her chest tired. "We're fine."

And they watched the snow fall down.

"Was there a part in that romantic movie where the guy gets to sleep with the girl?"

"Inuyasha, don't make me chuck you off the balcony."

- - - -

_**Fin**_

- - - -

* * *

Author's Letter

_It has taken two plus years to finally finish this thing, but I have. Whoa. I'm relieved, really, that I have gotten a complete story that has been boiling in my brain for so long out in type. But I do have to admit that I'm kind of sad that it's over and I won't be able to keep going. (a.k.a. don't expect a sequel or anything. Not happening) _

_I really have to thank a whole lot of people in this. First off, all of the people who read this thing in all it's awful writing format. Thankfully it's gotten a little better over the years. Then the people who actually **reviewed**. Those were the things that when I felt really uninspired kept me at it._

_Most definitely my twin sister, whom I'd occasionally throw different ideas off of to see if they might go over well. That not only, but also with the awful mental stuff I'm going through at the moment; she does get overzealous on occasion, but I do know she's not trying to be overbearing. We're twins after all: we're always up in each other's lives whether we like it or not._

_I could go on a real long time on that, so I wont. This is not the Grammys._

_I really did enjoy writing this piece. I loved actually having to stop and think deep, getting into the human mind and really figuring out how people might act and react to things. I wanted this to be as realistic as possible while still being idealistic (hence, no excessive fluff stuff all over the place). I loved making the ending, since I get so frustrated when a writer make some big, huge, earth shattering thing happen and the then poof!- everything is all back in nice happy land and the world is oblivious! So annoying! (and before any old readers say it, yes, I know I used to do the same thing. I'm not proud of it)_

_The greatest thing, though, was all the research I did. If you dropped me into Hakodate right now, I could probably do anything at all like a native. I did a ton of reading and talking and ugh… it took forever, but I'm glad I did it. Especially I can go onto GoogleEarth and actually point the university out, the dorm rooms, everything! And yes, the Orthodox Church is a real place. And yes it is right next to the Anglican and Catholic Churches in the Motomachi area. Seriously, I can draw you a map of everywhere the characters went. I personally think that is exhilarating._

_I seem to have thing going were I make each work longer than the last. I think I'll keep that going. (You know, originally, I was planning on this to be twelve chapters long, with maybe three thousand words per chapter. We all know how well that worked out.)_

_So now what, one may ask? Well for one, I'm working on some original fiction on my own, which might grow to something bigger. I also have the start of my next fan fiction in progress, though for big details, go to my profile (as I'm sure I'm notorious for saying by now). But other than that, I think at the start of March I'll have one last update on here. In that I'll try to answer the most populous questions readers still have about the story in type. So if you have a question, email me. Again, you can find it on my profile._

_And… that's it!_

_Ikedo, Kamiko-Zefuru_


	27. Q&A

Okay, so, let's right down to the point: These are questions and comments that different people either sent to me via email or I read about the story, for which I will now answer. Please note that this is the last update ever to be put on Daibakuhatsu Daigaku. Nothing more is coming after this. Honestly, show's over.

Q1.** What the hell does Daibakuhatsu Daigaku mean anyway?**

A1. Obviously, you didn't take a look at my friggin profile page!…I digress. Daibakuhatsu literally mean "The action of a large explosion" and Daigaku means "college". It seemed fairly fitting to me, since the story takes place at a college and the theme it sets up is not all that small.

Q2. **What was your inspiration for this?**

A2. Er… this is a little bit more tricky to answer, primarily because the end result of the story… I didn't decide upon that at the beginning. I roughly knew what I was doing, but it only came together about five months into the story (chapter five or six), and then became crystal clear at about chapter fourteen.

Anyway, inspiration. For the name: I have always liked this song called "Daibakuhatsu No.1" By ZONE (jpop), and I wanted to do something that incorporated that feel into it. This was only mildly accomplished through the comedic parts of the story. For the story: A few people guessed a primary one, which was V for Vendetta. However, that wasn't the only thing. One person did pick up on my fancy of "Animal Farm". Also, I really like some parts of "Ender's Game", but only to an extent - whoever would teach children that young that kind of language should be dumped into the Lake Vostok. I also just pulled a lot of it from just personal likes and interests, such as the ideas of terrorism and its roots, prejudice, etc. I always wondered why people would do such awful things, and I had to really research and delve into the human mind to try and grasp this (which I still don't think I did very well). And there were many things from day to say that inspired different parts of the story, but I can't possibly name them all, or else this would be a really long answer.

Q3. **WHERE IS THE FLUFF!?!?!?!?!**

A3. KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN! You don't have to write in all caps to get someone's attention any better, sheesh!

One thing I'm big on is realism. I'm sorry, but real deep love does not come within a few days or weeks. Nuh-uh. It takes _years_ for the deep stuff to fully bloom. This doesn't mean that two people can't really love each other before a certain amount of time at all! It's just the whole trust factor takes a long time to establish, even in very open people. (And adding fluff simply or fluff's sake, to me, is rather pathetic. I love the building up of tension and suspense and leading it up to one nice moment that is not only relieving but believable: do you see random people running up to each other crying and then making out so passionately that they fall to the ground because their heads are lolling all over, thus knocking off their balance, at the local bakery. If this does happen to you frequently, I suggest you stop using whatever illegal drug happens to be in your possession: just say no)

Q4. **Who was the whole conspiracy thing pointed at? The Church?**

A4. As far as I'm aware, I have no conspiracy theory in the story. Such a thing actually implies a massive cover-up that defies common thought and/or nature. I do acknowledge that there was a big cover up, but this was by an isolationist and fascist regime, which does so by nature. So sorry, no cover up.

As for the whole church bashing thing, it's not really so. For one, there are about a 1.3 or so billion Christians in the world: That is 1.3 billion different interpretations, mindsets, and people. There is a lot of room for difference, no? So, did I bash something/one? Yes. Was it the church? No, it just so happened the demented sadist I bashed is an Christian of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Q5. **What's your real name?**

A5. Next question.

Q6. **You put in those little cultural facts in the beginning, and then stopped. How come?**

A6. Several reasons. For one, I felt like I was belittling my readers by saying 'oh yes, I know all about Japan' and all that nonsense. I really don't like being arrogant or condescending, and when I catch myself even possibly doing so, I try to stop it.

Another reason was the fact that I don't know everything about Japan. Do you know _everything_ about a particular culture or nation or even region or city? I recognize the fact that I know a fair bit, but I don't know everything. The only thing I know for sure is that I know nothing. (go Socrates)

I also thought that I covered most of the real biggies for the fan fiction, so if there were smaller cultural references, I tried to work them into the story for a more creative learning instead of flat out lecture notes.

(Side Note: For my next piece, I am planning on adding these regularly at the end, otherwise it'll be really hard to comprehend)

Q7. **Wow, do you think something like this story could really happen?**

A7. Definitely: They have already happened. Examples: Third Reich, Apartheid, Pre-War Japan (Pre-World War Two), etc. This is a nice perk to trying to keep things realistic, in that the line between reality and fantasy is very slim.

Also, I discovered a few days ago that a massive outbreak of Bird Flu (in birds) struck just outside Moscow. That crept the hell out of me.

Q8. **Why'd you tell us to think about the location of Korea compared to Hokkaido? That had nothing to do with the story!**

A8. Oh ho ho… you thought about it but didn't think of timing. Any kind of storm that could force a cloud of nuclear fall out away from southern Japan, across the Japanese sea and all the way to Hokkaido would have to be really powerful. Like a Typhoon. Which occur in the later part of the year. Like November and December. Which is when Kagome's birthday is. I'll let you guys continue from there and figure the rest of the theory out. J

Q9.** Hey, the characters are really out of, well, character. And what was with the adding in of an OC near the end? WTF?**

A9. I am VERY much aware that the characters in the fan fiction quite often broke their manga/anime persona. I did this for both aesthetic and realism issues.

I hate to break this to you, but happening's and people in the manga and anime… that's not how it really works. Sorry, but it's not very realistic: it's very idealistic, to say the least. I don't mind it for that. But, as I repeat, I really wanted to stress realism in this piece.

And aesthetically, there were some habits or vocabularies and such that I felt really fell right into a character's persona, if not their manga script.

Q10. **Are you a Political Science major?**

A10. Heh heh, no. I'm currently looking at colleges, actually. I'm a junior in high school. And actually, I plan on majoring in Archaeology and/or International relations, one of which will get a doctorate. I also plan on minoring in art/creative writing. I'm just very passionate about political stuff. For example, I do not believe that one should start any political argument and take sides if they cannot argue both sides of the argument.

Q11. **Why was everything a weird, like driving on the left side of the road and stuff?**

A11. Uh, cause the story is set in _Japan._ Not the United States of America. _Japan… _Say it with me, _Japan…Nihon…_

Q12.** Is all of that stuff about Cascadia true?**

A12. What, the fact that it's an actual region of North America and has a fair amount of people actively campaigning or independence? You bet your bottom yen. You might be surprised how many groups advocate for cession: Many in Hawai'I and Alaska, Some in Texas, the Southwest, Michigan with Wisconsin and Minnesota, New England areas, California, and even the city of New York has parties vying for independence (think Singapore)

Q13. **Can you really track everywhere the main characters go in the story?**

A13. Oh yes. I can do it quite easily with Google Earth. I made sure to pay close attention to such cartographical extremes.

Okay, and that's it. If you didn't have a question answered, then you should have sent in an email! I won't answer anything else about this story now. It's done, over, le fin.

And, as usual, if you want to find out anything else about stuff, go to my profile page. Duh.


End file.
